Signed For
by CerealKiller11
Summary: "You cannot outrun me. You cannot hide from me. It would be wise for you to remember that." ... When Neji Hyuga is assigned a seemingly benign mission to escourt a young civilian across the country, he is astounded by how quickly things escalate out of hand. She's Brazen. She's Scorned. And She's Not going down without a Fight!
1. Chapter 1

It was insulting. Lady Tsunade had sighted that fact from the very beginning. Neji had had three days to convince himself that work was work, and pay was pay, but even so, the novice D-ranking level of this particular mission was disheartening at best. Surely there were Genin better suited for the task, but Tsunade had explained that an influx of missions had forced her to assign low level assignments to higher ranking ninja.

"You will be escorting an escort." Lady Tsunade had chuckled dryly, while shuffling through a stack of papers on her desk.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes. A maiko from a small village outside of Kumogakure is to be delivered to Dai Koshaku. However, he was adamant about her being bathed and properly prepared before their first meeting," Tsunade added with a shudder, "So you'll be delivering her to the teahouse here in Konoha. The Geisha Sama there, will have your payment and sign for her arrival upon your return."

"A Maiko..A Geisha apprentice?" Neji asked, sounding bored and simultaneously confused. "I thought that geisha courtesans were a product of misconception?"

"That's neither here nor there. Perhaps she's hired entertainment. Regardless," Lady Tsunade sighed, absentmindedly tossing him a scroll, still shuffling through her burdened desk of papers and documents. "Don't be late."

At least he was alone. It had been some time since he'd had any personal space, and the journey to the little village of Kyoko had been peaceful and relaxing. But, that was all about to change the moment he walked into the teahouse in their quaint hanamachi district.

Willow and Sakura trees lined the shore of a glassy inlet of mountain run off in calligraphic like beauty. This early in the spring the trees stood barren in the frigid air, but even so, their skeletal frames were beguiling, blackened bark making the red bridge to the large teahouse stand out against the gray.

Geisha and maiko of different ages and status stood awaiting his arrival, with pastel parasols about their ordained heads.

"Welcome, sir." A pair of young Maiko in beautiful kimonos sang, tilting dainty chins to their chests making the ornaments in their immaculate hair plea softly.

Neji gave them a nod, and stepped up onto the patio platform and slipped through the doorway. He wasn't certain who he was looking for and was thankful when an elderly Geisha came upon him in a graceful jaunt with elegant arms out wide.

"Thank the gods! A Hyuga! We were worried that they would send a genin. Your expertise will assure her arrival." The matron noted his look of confusion and sighed. "You will find Hanakichi to be...exacting." She added with care.

"And where is the package.?" Neji asked flatly. The Geisha gestured across the gardens toward a brightly colored pergola. A male instructor stood before a group of three young Maiko, all painted and primed to perfection. They sat on the floor, their kimonos bowed around their knees like blooming flower petals.

"The eldest girl, there, in the strawberry kimono." The old geisha sighed. "We've struggled with her for so long, but she simply is not a child of the willow world." She explained as the quartet began to sing. The girl called Hanakichi certainly took the lead, capturing his attention effortlessly with her elegant voice, nearly recherche for such a traditional profession. Neji could scarcely pay attention to the Sama as she went on.

"She's far too bold, and abbraisive by nature. We are not proud of this exchange..but..The Dai Sama has offered a far better price than Hanakichi could ever merit on her own. By giving up her board here at the academy, we can bring in a new and more promising Maiko to begin training. It is a shame though...Such a lovely voice that girl has. It is a true pitty that she is incapable of mastering the art of eloquence.."

Neji was listening, but admittedly, just barely. He was preoccupied with watching the profile of this girl, glowing against the darkened earth like the first blade of grass in spring. She was pretty, in an over done sort of way. He never cared for the cakey look of geisha girls. He could tell by the nape of her neck that she were much darker than most geisha prefered to be. Three pillars of her skin showing through the design between her shoulders were dark as caramel. She lifted a porcelain hand out from beneath the shadow of her paper umbrella to touch the last shred of evening light, when suddenly a sharp demand from her instructor cut through their song.

"Hanakichi! You are dark enough as it is! There is only so much powder and grease paint in this world to cover those field hands of yours! Stay in your shade!" He shrieked, "Now begin again!"

"It would be most convenient for us if you would leave with her in the morning. Admittedly, we have yet to break the news to the poor girl. Though, I'm sure once she sees you she will know that we've decided her fate." the Geisha Sama added regretfully. "I'm certain she will do everything in her power to sway us, so we will need the evening to finalize it to her. We have a room arranged for you in the teahouse. We insist that you stay in our most comfortable quarters. The maiko have been informed of your arrival and are waiting with tea inside, if you'd like."

Neji following her inside to a low table with two young maiko, waiting to serve him.

"Good evening, sir." they sang melodically, lofty cotton candy inflictions in their wind chime voices.

Neji shuddered. Geisha were flirtatious and excellent conversationalists, and Neji, himself, was never much for conversation. This was a walk-in nightmare for him. Pretty girls, with lots to say.

They chattered on about a great number of things, in an attempt to draw him from his silence, but failed. The girls feigned to notice his cool demeanor and continued discussing things near him rather than at him. Neji had to hand it to them, their ability to exist comfortably in any number of company was astounding, and to do it so fluently, as well.

After a time, the sliding door opened softly, and Hanakichi stepped through. When she caught sight of the Jounin in his loose Kimono shirt, a Konoha headband tied around his forehead atop a pair of steely blank eyes, she tightened her grip on her folded parasol. Neji gave her a polite nod, which she completely ignored, and answered him with a frown as she swiftly walked down the hall.

She certainly wasn't polite, like a successful Maiko always should be. The Geisha Sama had been correct in that observation, it seemed. But, could she really be blamed? To be sold to another.. It certainly wasn't a fate of the proud..

...

"But this is a Hamanachi! Not a Yukaku!"

Neji over heard the strained voice of the girl lament behind the walls of the Head Geisha's office. He wasn't eavesdropping on purpose, but he made no attempt to move.

"And you are not a prostitute! You are to be a concubine to a rich and powerful man who has paid dearly for you! You should be thankful for your lovely bone structure, and its ability to shroud your lack of poise!" The Sama's gnarled comment was biting.

"Please do not shame me in this way.."

"It cannot be helped. This is a fair status for your inabilities. You are crass and clumsy and stray from our traditions, and you and I both understand completely that your actions are no accident. You corrupt the others into thinking that this is a sentence and not an opportunity! Foolish child! And now, you have the audacity to muster this air of innocence, simply because you now understand that your final warning went unmerited?!" The old womans voice grew louder and sharper, seeming to intensify as patience widdled away.

"Please Haima-"

"Enough! You have cost me both money and time. You will waste no more of it with begging. The Jounin will escourt you to Konoha at dawn. You'll find your sisters have already organized your things for you. Go from me now."

The door to the office slid open softly, as Hanakichi stepped out into the hall on her platformed sandals. The sound of the old Geisha was reverberating through the walls.

 _"All the time and money I've wasted on a mere street urchin.."_

As it sounded, the failed maiko seemed to faulter, clutching her chest as she rested a hand against the wall to support her devistation. She broke down silently, as though her legs were rusty hinges. She fell to her knees, and wept into her sleeve. Neji debated slinking off onto the deck, but was a moment too late.

Hanakichi glanced up to find him watching. She stood, as if nothing had happened, her face drawing a blank and vacant expression. She opened the sliding door before her, and disappeared without a word.

Neji felt uncomfortably embarrassed for her. How shameful it would feel to be seen in such a weakened state, made him cringe. Even worse, the days to follow would be twice as uncomfortable now.

...

As usual, Neji found it difficult to sleep. He spent the majority of that night standing against a pillar of the teahouse porch, imagining the trees in bloom beneath the steely half moon above. It was then, that the click of a sliding door caught his attention. He glanced back in on the teahouse hallway, and noted that the door to Hanakichi's room had been tampered with. He walked slowly forward, knowing already that she had fled. Still, he glanced inside to her empty room, and shaking his head, took off over the bridge. It didn't take him long to find her. She was sprinting down a deer path through the pines at a full jaunt, to which he matched with ease.

"Leave me alone, Shinobi scum!" She growled through exasperated breaths, never slowing her pace.

"I cannot do that." He said flatly. "Though you should know, you're running in the right direction, and at this rate we'll make it to Konoha a day early."

She stopped running and leaned over her bare feet, breathing hard. The first thing he'd noticed was her actual hair. Beneath the pristine geisha wig she'd worn, her hair was long and crimpy, a completely wild mess of ashen brown. She was wearing a pair of lavender slacks and a black jacket that had more pockets than he wagered she would ever need. The plain white tank beneath was low enough to shadow her colorbones in pale moonlight. When she snapped up to glare at him, he was a bit surprised to see her face unburdened by all that white makeup.

She had a long thin nose atop curvaceous slender lips, chizzled in between her high cheekbones. Her eyes were the color of red wine, that he'd definitely noticed before against the pasty chalk white of her mask, but now against her natural warm toned skin, they seemed to burn, deep and sanguine.

"You know, I aggreed that I would depart with you in the morning." Neji said, breaking the silence as he gestured to the sunrise beginning to tint the horizon. "And since you're so eager to get on the way, why not begin now?"

Her glare was toxic as she sputtered angrily through breaths. "Fine with me, either way. You'll never get me to Konoha.."

Neji shook his head just once, and held her gaze very harshly.

"You cannot outrun me. You cannot hide from me. It would be wise for you to remember that."

The icy tone to his voice nearly swept the look of disgust off her face. He gestured her down the path, and with a huff, and a slicing glare, she thrust her heavy pack full of her geisha robes and garments into his arms.

"Carry these, or carry me. Your choice, ninja boy." And with that she stomped away, arms folded over her chest in a rage.

...

In a matter of minutes, she had concluded one thing for sure about this Neji Hyuga. He was cold. His default setting was placid as a stone, appearing to have the emotional depth of a teaspoon. Never once did any infliction find its way into his ominous monotone.

His pace was quick, and her untrained feet were sore by midday, but she wasn't about to ask for a break. Her pride would not allow it. Instead she found a way around it by asking,

"Where will we be sleeping tonight?"

"Where ever we end up when the sun starts going down." Neji replied unenthusiastically.

"In the woods?!" She cried, anger rising in her belly once more.

"Yes." He wondered why that weren't more obvious. Though, perhaps it was a bit strange. After all she wasn't some kind of fugitive, and this certainly wasn't a high stakes mission. There were no real reasons not to stay at an inn within the nearest village, but even so. Neji preferred to stick to what he was most familiar with. The cushy forest floor of dead pine needles would suit him just fine.

"On that note, I suppose you're getting hungry." He said sounding bored as he scanned the ground for a flat patch of dirt. He cleared away a spot as she watched him curiously. He took a small box from his pack and placed it on the ground and gave it a flick. In an instant, flames came pouring from the box like a small blooming inferno. He heated up some ramen and offered her a portion, and was extremely irritated when she refused with her nose in the air.

"You should eat something, Hanakichi." he hissed slightly, "As much as it would cut back on travel time, I don't intend to carry you all the way to Konoha."

She glared at his food and grumbled. "First of all, thats not my name. That's the name the teahouse wench gave me.. And, secondly. I'm not eating. I'm hoping to starve myself to death before we get there."

"You're odds are good." Neji offered as he eyed her up and down.

"What's that supposed to mean.?" She hissed, folding her arms over her chest in a fashion she was quickly coining.

Neji ignored her question and said, "If that is not your name, what would you prefer I call you?" His wording sounded poised and thoughtful, but his tone held no emotion what so ever. A moment of silence passed that indicated that she was pouting.

"Very well, _Hanakichi_ " He sighed, taking another bite of food. She fidgeted a bit, her scowl twitching on her lips before she finally blurted softly..

"It's Mae...just Mae."

Neji glanced up at her, not surprised that his mind game had worked.

He nodded, "Very well, Mae. Eat something."

She reluctantly picked up her bowl and slurped the noodles one by one, starring him down with an indignant gaze.


	2. Chapter 2

Mae could scarcely understand the allure of the Shinobi. Sure, the power may be nice, and come in handy too. But to weaponize yourself to a Kage that owns your name was a path of subservience. Mae knew all about subservience.

She bore her gaze into the back of the Hyuga, his long tethered locks swaying with every step. She scowled, imagining the Hokage dangling him around like a marionette, giggling like a fat faced child as he danced him across the countryside.

No. She loathed the Shinobi way. What good was this one doing her now?

The sun was nearly gone from the sky, and a frigid breeze rumored through the trees in an eerie sort of hush.

"We'll stop here for the night." Neji said, breaking the day long silence.

Mae glanced around the darkened woods, looking thick and impenetrable, as if it were closing her in to keep hold of her forever. A rustling in the brambles made her jump, and somewhere in the sky, up the forested mountainside, a bird with a mournful call sounded long and agonized as if to warn of her own impending doom.

Even so, her pride rendered her silent. She sat down on the cold earth and hugged her knees as he started another fire box. It was a peculiar little thing.

"What is that..?" She demanded, as the flames poured forth, casting an orange glow across the pale flesh of the phlegmatic Jounin's face. He unrolled his mat and sat down, searching his bag.

"It's a tinder box. Compacted, flammable tinder that can be extinguished quickly and easily. It's purpose is to leave behind no evidence of camp."

"Why do we have to be so discreet? Look around." she added with a bitter tone, folding her arms over her chest as she so often did when berating him. "Besides, there's going to be plenty of evidence all over the place when the bears tear us to pieces tonight.."

Neji scoffed internally. He had no response for such a ridiculous notion _. As if a bear could ever hope to out run or over power him._ He brought forth some food to cook and set to heating it on a fold out rack over the fire.

"Ramen again.." she hissed. "I've always wanted a vitamin deficiency."

Neji brought his gaze to hers, with a slender brow raised, and an under enthused frown.

"If you put the same amount of effort into something constructive, as you do into your own negativity, the sky may very well be your only limit." He was toneless, but the jab was certainly not lost on the girl

"Why, oh why might someone in my situation be negative?!" She exclaimed with an extravagant air of sarcasm. "I'm so blessed after all! Not only do I get to be penetrated by a stranger wielding actual notarized documentation of his ownership over me, But! I get to spend the last few days of my life, in a haunted forest with a lifeless boulder of a man, walking until my ankles bleed! Oh, oh! And don't forget the best part! ..All- he brought- was ramen.."

Neji starred blankly at her, though internally he was borderline impressed. Negativity at such a level, and not to mention near eloquence, was an art form the Nara clan, themselves, had not yet ascended to.

None the less, Neji simply thrust his hand deep into the pocket of his knapsack and pulled out a pristinely wrapped chocolate bar. He locked his gaze with hers as he slowly tore open the packaging.

A faint little twitch at the corner of her eye made her pupil flex. She starred back and forth between the delicious nougat and his unwavering gaze with a deepening scowl on her lips. He took a bite, not a single flinch in his lavender eyes, until he gave a modest nod of agreement.

"It's good." He said flatly, through a mouthful.

She shook her head in angry disbelief, tightening her folded arms as if to keep herself from attacking him out of sheer spite. Though she was beyond annoyed, a small, unrecognized sensation of relief resounded within her. This stoic man, this man who seemed so emotionless and vacant that it rendered him as good a company as an empty room, somehow, had a sense of humor. Scant, dry, and flat-lined, but...it was there none the less.

Mae, irritated and hungry as ever, resisting the temptation to ring the mans neck, suddenly felt, perhaps, just a little less lonely.


	3. Chapter 3

"Get up." Neji demanded, while audaciously flicking the temple of the sleeping joke of a maiko with his index finger, for the third time since sun up.

She looked dead, he had thought. Her mouth hung slack, and her body was limp and lifeless beneath her sleeping bag. When she finally awoke to him crouching over her, she seemed to peel herself from the forest floor like an angry slug while mumbling incoherently.

"I have a schedule to keep. Get moving." He demanded coolly, as he hoisted his pack over his shoulder. She scowled as he'd spoken, perhaps reminded to the fact that she was just a package in the hands of a deadly mailman.

Neji lead the way through the woods, over stream and mossy knoll, each footstep bringing him closer to home, and a better coterie of company. Not to mention, the closer they got to Konoha the more the land seemed to give way into early summer. The brown grass and tattered pine floor of the forest began to sprout green. The leaves in the trees seemed to illume in shade as the miles passed beneath them.

He glanced over his shoulder when Mae had begun to hum loudly. She had a handful of dainty white flowers in her palm, and was skipping along, flourishing down in ballerina-like fashion to scoop more from the edge of the path. Her indulgence was slowing them down to wit he grumbled,

"You will _Not_ make me late. Stop that."

She rolled her eyes with a pouty grin on her lips while ignoring him, and scooped another handful, her chipper melody falling abrasively over his ears.

"I wont ask you again." He warned. She completely disregarded him once more, and hummed a few decibels louder. Her notes began to fall sharp just to spite him.

Neji turned on his heel and snatched her wrist before she could collect any more of the foliage. He himself was a bit taken back by his own outburst, but what was more surprising was the smile she wore. It was so chipper, so undeterred. Her eyes went wide and a coy grin replaced the one before it.

"I have to pee!" She nearly sang as she pulled her wrist from his clutch, and wandered behind a giant tree. A moment passed silently, until she suddenly peered from around the large trunk with big doe eyes.

"Turn around!" She scolded.

Neji shook his head, but did as she'd asked. She was out of view for a suspiciously long time, and he didn't hear a single sound to validate her claim. He was about to call to her when Mae came popping out from behind the tree, all smiles. She went strutting eagerly down the path and chimed,

"Aren't you coming?"

Neji wasn't sure if this was her norm. It certainly didn't seem that way. His first experience with her had concluded that she was nothing short of malcontent at all hours of the day. Alas, she was a stranger. Neji shrugged and followed after her, admittedly not too upset with the view.

She was a pretty girl, after all. He was not immune to such observations, though they were few and far between.

She'd tied her jacket around her waist to let the warm morning graze her shoulders, and the rich ocher of her skin seemed to welcome in the sunlight with a dewy glow.

"It's a beautiful day isn't it?" She mused happily as a little skip in her step sent a ripple through her vivacious locks.

Neji gave a curt grunt of underwhelmed approval. Mae glanced over her shoulder at him with a fanged smile.

"You don't like the sunshine? I guess that's not too surprising. Not with that skin tone." She chuckled, returning her gaze to the path.

"It's hereditary." Neji grumbled. "Of course I enjoy the sunlight."

"Could have fooled me. You're coloring could put a geisha to shame."

"I'm not that pale.." He growled, feeling uncharacteristically self conscious.

"Whatever you say." She sighed gingerly, swinging her arms a bit. "So tell me, what made you want to be an errand boy for the Hokage?"

Neji wasn't certain that he cared for her tone. "I'm not an errand boy. In fact this task is comically below my ranking. And you should know that being a Shinobi for the Village Hidden in the Leaves is an honor to all who hold the title."

"I'm sure it is. But, aren't you uncomfortable knowing that your not going to die of old age? I mean, come on. You're definitely getting impaled at some point, right?"

Neji scoffed, "One's fate is the product of ones abilities. I'm fairly confident in my line of work, I assure you."

"I don't doubt it." She giggled, amused by his tenacity. "But, what makes you so confident? What can you do? Impress me." She challenged, turning on her heel to walk backwards in front of him. Her smile was broad and welcoming, lighting up her face more than even the sun light could.

"I'm not playing show and tell with you." He scoffed, tearing his gaze from her smile.

"Why not? I think it sounds fun?"

"I hardly think handing over clues as to whom your dealing with would be wise for me. Not that they would help you, either way. As, I said before. You can't get away from me, so stop trying to act innocent. I know exactly what your doing."

Mae held up her hands, shrugged, and bit into her smile playfully. "Jeesh. Just making conversation."

They came upon a bluff around mid day that overlooked the boisterous village of Panyian. A civilian village that was known for its taverns, pubs and smoke houses. No matter the time or day of week, not a one would ever be found empty. It was an old town, its structures brightly painted and kitschy. Quite a site from above on the bluff, and Mae was more than inspired.

"Can we have lunch here! Its so beautiful! Look at that!" She cried hopefully, clasping her hands in front of her as she surveyed the valley. Neji grumbled, but conceded when his stomach did the same.

"Here." She offered happily, nudging him as she took the rack and constructed it over the flames. "I'll make lunch this time."

She snatched the packages of ramen and boiled the water without a single complaint about the uniform menu.

" _This girl's gotta have seasonal effective disorder or something_." He thought to himself while watching her crouch near the flame, stirring the noodles in with a mirthful little trill.

He shrugged off the observation and cast his gaze down the valley. It certainly was a sight. The mountains beyond carved into the sky, so distant that they appeared hazy like hulking spirits. The town below was sending up the faintest tones of a guitar and some drums, sounding contageously blithe as it went wafting invitingly over the hills.

"Here you go!" She chimed, handing over his portion with a darling smile.

He nodded.

They ate in pleasant silence, listening to the village hum, watching birds flit from tree to tree. When they had finished she began to pack up the utensils for him while whistling a bright tune.

Neji stood and stretched, his fully belly warm and satisfied, and ready to get on the trail. That was, until he noticed his mouth beginning to flush hot and wet. A faint wave of nausea set in. Nothing too severe. Assuming that he'd eaten too fast, Neji discreetly cleared his throat, but, when a second wave came swirling into his gut he knew something was amiss. He started to sweat, his vision a bit bleary, as he took a knee.

"Neji, are you okay?" Mae asked him as she leaned down to study his furrowed complexion.

 _"You know I'm not! You poisoned me!"_ He wanted to shout, but when he'd opened his mouth, the contents of his stomach threatened to emerge. The nausea turned to immobilizing pain as if someone had taken a slotted spoon and stirred it through his intestines.

He looked up through jagged breaths to find her backing away with wide watchful eyes and a proud smile. Neji tried to get up and took a few steps that caused her to flinch, but when the agony in his stomach sent him crashing back to his knees, she took off running down the bluff, disappearing from his view.

Korotan Flowers. Or what the locals so lovingly referred to as _Shit Flowers_. If you were "bound" those dainty looking little bastards would relieve you to a fault. So efficient they were, that in proper dosing they could double as a poison. And she had been collecting them all the way there, with that keen little grin of hers, right under his nose.

Neji was remiss, and furious. In fact, beyond just that. He stood and wavered immediately as a twisting groan reverberated through his organs.

"That Little Bit-"

Too late.

His words turned to substance, burning his throat as it came up and out.

" _I'm going to kill her!_ " He thought with absolution as a churning in his bowels finalized her sentence. He crouched, spewing from all ends, in painful bouts, all the while assuring to himself.

 _"I'm absolutely going to kill her_!"


	4. Chapter 4

Neji wove through the busy streets of Panyian in a rage. It had taken him a while to recover, and then clean himself up, giving her about an hour head start.

 _"I can't believe I have to use my Byakugan for this_." Neji muttered, still fighting off the urge to vomit and or shit his pants for the hundredth time. This mission was certainly becoming quite the misnomer.

Upon their first meet alone in the woods, he'd taken a quick glance at her chakra, making a mental note just in case. What he'd found was quite remarkable. The girl had less chakra than a piece of paper, and Neji couldn't fathom how she were able to stand, much less, run. She was unique in that she were more closely related to the ancestors before the Sage of Six Paths than anyone he'd ever seen. She was what was once considered normal, but, now her slightness, in a chakric sense, was hilarious. He'd stifled a chuckle when he'd first seen it. However, her minuscule energy had turned the tables, rendering her practically invisible to him now.

 _"There it is.._ " That little trickle of Zinfandel that coiled through her under developed gates like a dripping faucet, stood out dully against the others. Pathetic.

Anticipation for the well deserved punch to the kidney he was going to give her swelled in his chest as he stepped through the open tavern doors.

He paused to watch while Mae was still unaware of his presence. She bubbled into the arms of a young man while wearing a candy coated smile. The man looked lofty and intoxicated, and at the verge of a nosebleed as she shifted her hips to the drum beat.

 _All those years at the teahouse seemed to have been good for something after all._

She whispered something into the mans ear, pressing her body into his stunned embrace as a crimson blush immobilized him. Mae slipped her tiny hand into the pocket of his pants and swiped his wallet, then sauntered away with a flirtatious wink, leaving him none the wiser to her clever trick.

Mae was headed toward the door in search of her next victim when she spotted the Shinobi in her path, looking hateful and fuming, and still a bit green.

She smiled, giving him a once over with those coagulant red eyes.

"You changed your pants..?" She mused playfully, "I liked the other ones better _-Hey_?!"

Neji had ripped the wallet from her bra where she'd stashed it, and tossed it at the man who glanced between it, and the girl in bewilderment.

Neji snatched the little runaway thief by the arm and drug her outside.

"Help! Somebody help me!" She cried in a delusively over exaggerated way.

No one moved to help her. Between the headband, and the Byakugan, people tended to mind their own business.

Neji threw her over his shoulder, receiving blow after blow to the back of the head and spine. It felt almost like a kitten pawing at a ball of yarn, even though she was giving it her all.

"Put me down you Freak!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. He tore up into the trees and found their path, all the while trying to ignore the way that the height and speed made her wiggle and shout. She clung to the roots of his hair for deal life, wrapping her legs around his waist, as if she were a cat being held over a tub.

"Put me down, put me down! Stop! I'm afraid of heights!"

"Cut it out!" Neji protested sharply as she nearly caused him to miss the branch he'd been leaping for.

In a desperate attempt to get him to land she clasped her hands roughly over his eyes, but was baffled when he kept on soaring through the air, each foot landing where it should. The soft scratch of his sandals sounding against tree bark with every step.

"How are you doing that?" She awed, the marvel only momentarily distracting her from her frenzy.

"Hyuga. Remember?" He hissed bitterly.

Yes Geisha Sama had said his name, and reverently too, as if it should be recognized, but in her rage Mae had hardly been in the mood to ask questions.

She removed her hands, and studied his movement. Entirely unchanged. She slapped them over his eyes once more, just to be sure.

"Stop that!" Neji barked.

Mae tightened her arms around his neck as she glanced down at the blur of the forest floor. Her fidgeting was disruptive, and Neji decided to land them on the broad branch of one of the more grand trees.

"no, no, no, no.." she whimpered, sinking to her belly to cling to the bark.

Neji raised a brow. "Stand up. You look like an idiot." He murmured.

"And you're a psychopath!" She hissed, digging her fingers and toes into the tree. "How did you find me so fast?!"

He folded his arms over his chest, then gestured to his eyes.

"Again.. _Hyuga_.?"

"That means nothing to me! What is that!"

"Ancestral Dojutsu. I warned you. You cannot hide from me. I can find your chakra, what little of it there may be, no matter where you go, or what you do. So, lets sum up this unfortunate event as a lesson well learned.. Act out against me once more, and I'll give you something worth being frightened of.." his tone was cutting and nearly set her hair on end.

She gave him a reluctant and defeated nod.

"Just get me down from here.."

She squeaked and held tightly to his chest when he peeled her from the tree. Neji shook his head.

In all his years of training, nothing could have prepared him for what she'd done to him that afternoon. In all truth, his stomach was still a seething mess, among other things.. Just three more days, and he'd be rid of the little toxicologist once and for all.

...

They had resumed their journey in a heavy and uncomfortable silence. He'd forced her to lead the way through the woods to keep his eyes on her.

It must have rained before they reached that particular expanse of forest, for, by the time they made camp that night, the ground was damp and cold, the twilight coated in dense fog. When he'd laid out his mat and sat down without striking up a fire she eyed him silently.

"what about dinner..?" she asked softly.

Neji glared up at her as a groan reverberated from his gut. "I'm not hungry." He growled with resentment.

She sat down across from him and studied her hands in an uncomfortable fashion. "You should eat..it will help." She offered.

Neji wasn't buying it, regardless of whether her suggestion held no ill-will.

Mae looked up at him sitting there so quiet, looking tired and sick. Inside she felt the faintest bit of guilt. But, what was she to do? Accept her fate without fighting for her own freedom? This man was just doing his job, but how could he not care about the injustice he was helping to permit?.

Of course he didn't care. He was a tool for the nation. It wasn't his responsibility to decipher the morality of the task, just to follow it through.

"You know..." She added softly, watching the flames dance within those lonely eyes, white and desolate as a mountain top. "Once I get to Konoha, I'm just going to run again.."

Neji scowled, "Dai Koshaku is a powerful, and rich businessman with many ties to the Shinobi world. I highly doubt you'll be able to successfully elude this fate of yours. And besides, even if you do manage to escape, Your affairs, after I've signed for your successful delivery, are all your own. My mission is to escort you to Konoha, and I intend to do just that. I have impeccable credentials, and I have **_never_** failed a mission. Believe me when I tell you, I am not about to let some discount-mail-order-bride from Kyoko muddy that pristine resume."

Mae felt her last shred of hope dissolve into the snow of that icy glare. It was as she had feared. He was a heartless delivery boy, and she was just a soulless burden to be dropped at a gate and forgotten. He didn't give a damn about her life, her wants or dreams, and this mission certainly wouldn't haunt him in _his_ dreams after she was given up. Surely he'd seen much worse to form the monsters of his nightmares.

No. This gray area task was the least of his concerns, though it was her entire existence that hung in the balance.

Mae rolled over on her mat and starred off into the foggy woods. Her heart was heavy, and fracturing in her chest. It was a sobering sensation to find her wellbeing pinned to the dossier of another, especially when held by a man as impenetrable and cold as Neji Hyuga.


	5. Chapter 5

Mae was at a loss. If she tried to run she'd be caught and slung about all the way to Konoha like a sack of potatoes. Her ruse with the Korotan Flowers had only served to shorten his fuse (and possibly his esophagus).

On another unfortunate note, Mae had never been so sore and tired in her life. The kind of training she was accustomed to included sitting still, and not taking too wide of steps. In fact, the hardest thing she did each day at the tea house was simply getting dressed, and keeping her mouth shut.

Neji wouldn't carry her pack for her anymore either, now that she'd besmirched him. Though its weight had seemed effortless on his shoulders, it was currently driving her into the dirt.

The sun was bright and blinding in the highlands where Neji had lead them. The trees just kept getting bigger and bigger, and Mae felt like an ant among giants.

To her utter horror, the land gave out beneath them as they came to a gargantuan cliff side, so steep and expansive that she herself could compare it to nothing she'd ever seen. Miles below in the flat basin of the valley, big splotches of blue and green sent up plumes of salty steam and heat that shrouded the view in a mirage.

Mae took a step away, clutching to her back pack straps.

Neji did the opposite and walked right to the very edge and gazed across the alien landforms. He glanced down, and a faint smile played his lips.

"Look, an eagles nest." He commented, gesturing below down the cliff side.

Mae shook her head. "Who cares. It's not worth dying over."

"The fledgling is still there." He added, glancing at her to see if it had perked her interest. In truth, it certainly had, but she wasn't about to face her fear of heights so close to a man whom she'd poisoned less than twenty four hours ago.

"Don't be such a coward." He jeered tonelessly.

"I'm not! I just don't care." She huffed, turning her chin to the sky.

Neji shrugged.

"Suit yourself," he sighed as he walked past her down the path. She watched him go, then set her gaze to the edge once more. If she crept slowly and cautiously she could maybe get a glimpse without getting too close. She took a few steps, then glanced behind her again.

Neji was a ways down the path, still on his merry way.

Mae took another inch and another, and peered over the edge, her heart thudding away in her ears as her palms began to sweat.

The ground below looked menacingly far away, and as she inched just a centimeter closer, the edge just a foot from her now, _Devastation_ resounded quickly throughout her entire body.

There was no nest. In fact there wasn't a single outcrop of rock, or ledge below. Just a flat drop, straight down, of smooth rusty rock.

She panicked, and before she could even throw herself back to safety, she felt a sharp shove and then a hand on her wrist.

Mae let out a fractured scream as she dangled at a 90% angle over the bluff, just one of her feet having purchase to the slippery edge. Neji had her by the wrist, wearing a terrifyingly placid smirk.

"S-STOP IT!" Mae hollered through a panic attack, swinging her other leg, trying to throw herself back to land.

Neji wouldn't bend his arm. He just held her, suspended over certain death, those calm and empty eyes drinking in her fear.

Neji's smirk curled the corner of his mouth, playing peek a boo with a sharp and pearly fang as he let go.

There was no nest.

Mae couldn't believe that she were about to die this way. By the way her heart was pounding in her chest so painfully, perhaps she'd die of shock before she even hit the ground. Hopefully that were the case. Wind forced its way into her lungs but she still mustered the rage to scream.

" _ **You Fucking Bastard!**_ "

It echoed over the valley. She hated that those would be her last words, But they were true, and they needed to be said.

Neji heard it and smiled as he watched her falling with a tilt of his head. She looked like a squirrel, arms flailing, legs kicking, but she was screaming more like a piglet.

He summoned a shadow clone, and sling shot himself down the cliff side, gaining moment as he streamlined his body like a bullet. She was light, and certainly not wind resistant with all that thrashing and fuss, so he caught up to her quickly, and snatched her out of the air.

He couldn't help but grin when she baffled up at him, eyes wider than an owl's in the dark. He summoned another clone to soften their landing as they neared the bottom, and with a light bounce, and a plume of smoke from the utilized shadow, he set her to her feet. She immediately collapsed to the earth clutching her chest, unable to breath.

"I- Hate-You-So-M-Much-!" She barely managed to wheeze. Her fingers were beginning to curl into her palms due to lack of oxygen, and a blue blush was coloring her lips.

Neji felt a little badly...but not too badly. He couldn't contain the deep and bellowing laugh that escaped from his smile. He doubled over, resting his hands on his knees, as she sat up from the dirt wearing a deadly frown. It was the very first time she'd ever heard him laugh, but it was hard to appreciate it when the punch line had so literally been at her expense.

"It's Not Funny At All! Why Would You Do That!" She roared, still unable to stand.

Neji whipped a tear from his eye and stifled another wave of giggles.

"I didn't want to go around the whole basin. You're so damn slow. And, besides, I was hoping you'd shit yourself! Either way, your face was worth it!" He chortled, clutching his abs as they shook with glee.

….

Mae pouted across the low lands, arms snapped tightly over her chest.

"Come on, I think were even now, don't you?" Neji sighed, his prank seeming to have sanded away a bit of his resentment.

"I didn't Toss you to your Death!" She protested sharply.

"No. You just wanted me to eject all my major organs from every orifice of my body. Honestly, I'd take the cliff any day."

"You really are a psychopath." She hissed, stomping ahead of him in a heated jaunt. Maybe she was short, or maybe she was just used to quaint maiko steps, but her crabby little shuffle was hard not to smile at.

The basin was foggy and warm, every breath saturated in salt brine and steam. The pools stood out against the terra firma like fathomless jewels. If the world had eyes, this is where they would be found. Deep blues and purples and greens. Deep like iris's, a window into the soul of the earth.

It was like nothing Mae had ever seen. Never had a color held such a vibrancy. Within the pools, the smooth and curving walls descended down forever in ringed patterns of ancient sediment, nearly mathematically perfect in their spacing.

"What is this place..?" Mae whispered, afraid to interrupt the soft and soothing murmur of heavenly water.

" _Winyarin Rayyar._ Spiritual hot springs. Pretty remarkable, isn't it?"

She didn't think that Neji's nonchalance was fitting in the least.

She looked ahead, and all she could see for miles were crystalline pools, fluttering in the the mirage before her.

They took their time exploring through the godly land, detouring around some of the larger ponds. When the sun began to set, the prairie on the other side was in view, and beyond that, another menacing timberland full of sky scraping trees.

A panic set in for the second time that day, as the last pool fell behind them.

"Wait!" Mae exclaimed, clutching her back pack straps and ringing her grip around them. This was the first and last time she'd ever see this place. To not feel it on her skin would be a crime. "I want to bathe.."

Neji raised a brow. He'd expected this from her. He studied the sky. It was time to make camp soon anyway.

"Go ahead." He muttered, much to her surprise. Excitement lit up her face, but was quickly consumed by a frown.

"Not with you standing there!"

Neji scoffed, and shook his head. "You've lost your privilege to privacy."

"But, I can't bathe with you watching me! It's not lady like!" she revolted in shock.

Neji folded his arms in front of his chest with a wry gaze.

"After watching you gyrate your way into the pockets of unsuspecting alcoholics, lady like is hardly the term I'd use to describe you.."

Mae crinkled her nose and muttered sourly, "I needed money.."

"For what purpose? You're about to belong to one of the richest men in the fire nation."

"I don't belong to anyone!" Mae spat venomously. The severity in her eyes made him feel a bit strange. He'd struck a cord that, this time, he hadn't intend to. And the irony of her sentiment certainly wasn't lost on him either.

Regardless, he wasn't about to chase her through this maze of smoke, the second he turned his back.

"You're the one who wants to bathe...?" He sighed, bringing the conversation back around.

She glared at him while weighing her options, and to his great surprise, she tossed her pack at his feet and began to slip from her jacket. She held his gaze indignantly, as if to throw his challenge back in his face.

Neji didn't think that she was actually going to do it, but, there she stood, brown skin glowing in the the haze over soft and dainty curves. She stepped into a pool, a deep and translucent amethyst, and poised herself up to her collarbones in the sweltering water.

Even beneath the surface, she was perfectly visible to him, and Neji found it increasingly difficult to just stand there. He took a glance around in a knowingly futile attempt to find something better to stare at.

It wasn't often that he visited this place. Perhaps it was the heat, or fatigue, or maybe just those curves, but, Neji peeled from his clothes.

Mae squeaked, and covered her eyes.

"What are you doing, you perv!" She squealed from behind her hands, her face burning up. She had never seen a man naked before, and it sure as hell wasn't about to be the Hyuga!

Neji ignored her and slipped into the broiling waters with a sigh.

She peered from between her fingers at him, and found him leaning back against a flat stone, arms out wide, eyes closed.

"You could have picked a different pool!" She grumbled.

"Making you uncomfortable is a new found aspiration of mine." He said loftily, only half present from his own relaxation. She scowled at him, but as a few silent moments passed the unease passed with it.

She studied his chest gleaming below, deep grooves and high ridges carving out his pectorals. His long hair was swirling around him like ink, distorting his silhouette. He caught her looking and she was about to snatch her gaze away when a marking across his brow caught her eye.

"What's that..?" She asked softly, gesturing to the design across his forehead that glowed a mystical shade of purple in the phosphorescent waters. That same light caught his pearly gaze, and made it hard for Mae to focus.

He could have lied, He could have said it was just some tattoo, or perhaps a mark from a jutsu less menacing..But he didn't..

"Juinjutsu. Brand of the Hyuga Clan." He offered evenly. "A _gift_ to all the branch families of the main house."

Mae looked confused. Of course she was. This girl was ignorant to the world outside her village.

"Juinjutsu..?" She peeped, her wide red eyes blooming with curiosity.

"It's purpose is to seal away the Byakugan upon my death. A necessary function to keep it from being stolen, and weaponized by those outside of the Clan. Though it serves other..less savory purposes as well.."

"what kind of purpose..?"

She watched his face darken as he seemed to select his words very carefully.

"Lets just say that it keeps the branch families from ever complaining to much about inequality."

His words were light but his tone held weight. Mae's brow furrowed upon realizing that this man really was a mere object, not only to the Kage, but his own family as well. How funny it was that a bondservant should be charged to sell a thrall. How bitterly ironic.

Another thought had dawned on her, one she hadn't had before. Perhaps, it wasn't his choice, and perhaps it never had been. She herself had only been presented with one choice in life, and she often wondered if she'd chosen the wrong one.

"I had a family once.." She blurted lightly, running her hands beneath the water, swirling the surface into a whirlpool. "They were deadbeats though, with some pretty serious consumption problems. The heavy stuff..We lived in a shack behind my dad's brothers house. I don't know why he let us stay there because they argued all the time. My mom would take me to the market by the vegetable stand and have me sing, so that we could buy food. She never bought food though.. When I was six, Haima, the Geisha Sama was in the market and asked my mom if she could pay her to train me. She said my voice could make the teahouse a lot of money if I started young enough. So, my mom traded me over. I wasn't mad or anything."

Mae spoke thoughtfully, ignoring Neji's gaze as she continued, "At first I was really thankful. It felt good to sleep on a bed, and have clean clothes. But, after a little while I realized that it wasn't what I was missing. Geisha Sama was strict and cold, and never satisfied with me. Never proud of me. It wasn't until I got older that I recognized what I was hoping to find. I wanted a mother. Not a matriarch.. My mom wasn't much of a mother either. She left town with the money Haima gave her, and I never saw her again."

Neji sat stiffly, fumbling with responses as she smiled gracefully.

"Don't have an aneurysm, I just thought you might want to know why I'm such a shitty Maiko." she teased, flicking drops of water across the pool at him.

Neji raised a brow and smirked. "This positivity suits you. I'd consider putting it into practice more often."

Mae just rolled her eyes and smiled. "You don't know me, Ninja Boy."


	6. Chapter 6

"It's more bug than tree!" Neji shouted.

Hundreds of thousands of cicada shells had coated the bark of a giant god-like tree, all the way to the sky. A deafening hiss saturated the woods, nearly agonizingly hypnotic at such a high decibel.

Mae had her fingers in her ears, wearing a furrowed frown as she gave the nasty tree a wide berth.

Neji plucked a brittle shell to study it in his palm, acknowledging its hairy little meelee weapons protruding from what used to be its pincers. The hopper had traded its slow and callous thorax for a set of cellophane wings, and this was all that was left.

Neji glanced at Mae. She looked sick, and fidgety starring up at the monster of life before them.

He flicked the shell into her hair and she went twirling about, spastically thwacking at her locks to dislodge it. He was pretty sure she was squealing, but it just seemed to melt into the siren of the insects.

He snatched a few more of the casings and thrust them into his pocket to use as projectiles for later, then headed casually down the path.

Once they'd reached a distance away, and the risk of their ears bleeding had subsided, Mae began her tirade.

"How dare you! I can't believe how asinine and childish you can be! When I first met you I though you were a gigantic Dick Face, but at least you were professional!"

She threw a fist at his back, a little close to his blind spot, not that she could do any real damage. The vicinity was still unsettling, so he turned and caught her fist in his palm, with a half smile.

"Heights. Bugs. Commitment. What aren't you afraid of?" He teased, a slender brow raised.

"I'm not afraid of you!" She offered with a growl, but a small smile was shadowing her lips that she hadn't intended to wear.

"Nonsense. You're terrified of me." He expressed with a convincingly narrow gaze. "And for good reason. I'm not sure if your aware of this, but your chakra levels are alarmingly low. I could kill you with the flick of a finger if I wanted to."

"And I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but you're a major Ass!" She hissed, with an eye roll as she sauntered past him.

Neji pulled a bug husk from his pocket and launched it into her hair once more. The scream she let out nearly rivaled the cicadas still hissing through the forest. Once she managed to shriek her self free from it, she let out an exasperated, high pitched growl and stomped down the path with a warning.

"Do it again and I'm throwing acid in your face!"

Neji reached into his pocket for the last round of ammo, and with a devious grin, followed after her.

…

It was a strange feeling for him, as if he weren't actually on the job. She was such a ridiculous little creature, always animated about something or other. He had to admit, she was funny. Her negativity was, to him, somehow refreshing. Her lack of knowledge about the Shinobi world seemed to serve as a relieving intermission between the constant fray and struggle his life was.

He'd never met another person quite like her.

The familiarity wasn't doing him any favors when it came to a sense of professionalism. He was starting to sympathize with her. He'd tried to justify the nature of his mission to himself.

After all she was a stubborn little cookie. Dai koshaku had his work cut out for him with this one. It was hard to imagine her being broken by anyone...But, when he did manage to fabricate the thought, he found that he didn't care for the image in his head.

Surely she would find a way out of her mess in the end. He wanted to cling to that hope, but he knew better. Everything he had said to her was true.

Dai Koshaku had connections. If she ran, she would be found. After all, she was legally recognized as property. It was a sad fate for such a nice girl..

 _Wait_. Neji cut his thoughts in half. Had he seriously just referred to her as _nice_? The girl who poisoned him, and not a few moments ago referred to him as a Jack Off?

Apparently he was suffering from some kind of reverse Stockholm Syndrome anomaly. Clearly, it was time for him to take a step back and recover his commission. Just one more night after this one, and she'd be gone.

….

They set up camp in a thicket of Juniper beneath a clear and moonless night. It was silent, and pleasantly so, the wind a soft hush through the pines.

He glanced up and found her starring at him from across the flames, her cheekbones flashing warmly in its flickering light. She had something to say. He could tell. He could also construe that the conversation to follow would not be a pleasant one.

"Why did you become a Shinobi?" She asked, her eyes awaiting a response, glowing like the tinderbox before them.

He had called it. She was going to try and make him question his life choices and berate him for his ambiguous career. He shook his head, annoyed by her stupid approach.

"I want to protect myself, my nation, my people, and the ones I love. Don't tell me that there's no pride in that."

Her brow furrowed as she studied him, and a soft question escaped her lips.

"Am I not worthy of love..?"

Damn.

He hadn't expected that. One of his heart beats had sent out an uncomfortable ping down his arms as she'd said it. How was he supposed to answer that? Surely, she was, but that wasn't a part of the objective. Of course she deserved freedom, just like anyone else. But, it also wasn't his choice to be hired for this task. And at the end of the day that's all it was. A task to be completed. Besides. She wasn't in danger. Her life wasn't at stake.. Just her happiness..

He looked into those eyes, so deep and burning for an answer, as if she knew the question had unraveled him, if even by just one small thread..

Neji tore his gaze to the flames and continued to eat his dinner.

Mae watched him with melancholic disappointment in her heart. Just as always, he was stone cold. And, just as always, Mae had a recurrent observation.

What a double standard he held, and to just sit there, silently, in the face of it with nothing to say for himself..

How could he..?

Ah, yes. Because he was a ninja. One sided, and bigoted in his ways, and trained to be just so. Sure, they were able to protect the ones they cared for, but what about the innocent who end up caught in the path of their undertaking? The years of training, and molding and grinding had made him this way.

A pathetic, in-compassionate automaton, and it seemed that no level of reaching could bring his heart to life..

No. Mae thought with certainty once more.

She hated the Shinobi way.

What good was this one doing her now?


	7. Chapter 7

With every heavy step Mae found it difficult not to hyperventilate. By noon time tomorrow she would be nothing but a plaything with a tag. These were her final moments as Mae, even though she'd just barely gotten reacquainted.

 _Hanakichi_. Such a stupid name. It had consumed far to large a portion of her life.

The singing, the dancing, the etiquette lessons, the sore back from tight wraps and aching scalp from strained hair below those god awful heavy wigs. Cover your face. Never speak out of turn. Always have the correct response. Remember your script. Never say what you feel. Never do what you wish. Forget what you want. Forget who you are. Be thankful for it. _Be thankful for it..._

The woods woke her up. The challenge that this man presented, and the consequence of failure woke her up.

The odds were stacked against her, especially in his company, but there was still time...wasn't there?

She'd been sold before, and here she found herself once more sporting a price tag against her will. Older, wiser, but still just as helpless.

Neji's hair was long.

Longer than her own. It swayed back and forth with every step he took before her. It was hypnotic in its movement, contrasting against her internal battle. He looked so human. But surely, he was not. After all, you need a heart to be human.

A glimmer in the corner of her eye caught Mae's attention. In a daze she followed the flutter, and veered from the path.

Her footsteps snapped over twigs, and softly crunched through dead leaves until she came upon a lake. Small, mountain run off glistening in the high sun like a diamond.

A dozen cranes, maybe more, stood poised around its bank, studying one another, their red crowns glowing atop their graceful heads. One would stretch its wings wide and flash delicate alabaster feathers before leaping into the embrace of its paramour.

Mae couldn't breath as she watched them with envy in her soul. They danced and sang, declaring their love and freedom with ease as if the concept of their lives being any other way were entirely unfathomable to them.

A catch in her throat sounded rough as she tried to hold in her tears. It echoed softly down the hillside and over the water, just loud enough to make her presence known. The cranes turned their gaze and took off to the wind like dandelion seeds, leaving her alone in the quiet.

Neji watched at her back as the cranes flew away, one by one until she sank to her knees.

That odd ping in his chest coursed through him once more..

He ignored it.

When she returned to the trail it seemed her fire had been stoked, igniting her fighting nature.

"Have you always been this heartless?" She hissed behind his shoulder. He could feel her glare on his back like a spear.

"Look, I know I don't really know you..But, I know you're not as cold-blooded as you seem.."

When he did not answer she tore out in front of him and shoved her hands hard into his chest.

No one, _No One_ laid hands on him in such a way, and yet in an odd sense, this time it seemed justified.

"Look at me!" She demanded.

Neji _was_ looking.

He saw her fractured grimace below watering, angry eyes. Stubborn eyes. For what she lacked in Chakra she made up for in heart. She was more than just a failed waif of a Maiko with an attitude problem. He knew that..

"I want to belong to myself. Please...don't do this to me.."

Neji studied her gaze and let it fall as he shouldered past her down the trail.

"I have done nothing to you. If it were not me escorting you, it would be some other Shinobi. It would change nothing." His voice was its usual frigid tone. Uncaring and nearly absent.

She watched him walk away, wishing she were strong enough to do the things he did. Maybe then she could take her life from his hands and put it back into her own.

…

Mae lay awake in her sleeping bag with a tight knot in her belly. When she thought of Dai Koshaku she imagined an older man, in fancy robes with a big house to compensate for his small heart.

Mae wanted to cry, imagining the things she'd have to do under his reign. He would own her entirely..

She'd never even had a love of her own. Not a kiss, not an embrace, or even a bouquet. And now she'd have to hand it all over to a stranger who knew nothing at all about her, and cared even less than that..

Neji felt a presence, and then hands on his chest. He snatched them and pinned them to the ground.

It was Mae, her nose inches from his, pegged to the earth beneath his weight, and his steely glare.

"Trying to poison me again..?" he hissed coldly.

"no." she murmured.

"Then what are you doing?" He asked, frustrated by her odd behavior at such an hour.

"What does it look like I'm doing..."

Neji honestly hadn't the slightest clue, until he noticed her eyes glisten above a blush that burned her cheeks so feverishly that he could feel its heat wave on his skin.

"This isn't what you want. Your fear is distorting your sense of judgment."

A scowl took her lips as her gaze narrowed angrily, "My judgment is crystal clear, Ninja. I'm not handing my virginity over to a man who paid for it. He may own me, but I'll be damned if he'll own that too."

She didn't wait for him to speak. With small, trembling hands, and a stubborn expression, she closed her eyes and kissed him.

Her spiteful impulse began to morph into something...else.. Neji couldn't place it, but he didn't wait around to figure it out before freeing her from her clothes.

He placidly, wordlessly accepted her offer and welcomed her onto his lap, watching her expression go from determined to strained as she sank herself down onto him.

She was warm. Very warm, but too shallow for his purpose. He pressed her back to the cold hard ground and carved out a place inside her, amused by her struggle to keep the look of pain from her eyes.

She looked quite cute.

He couldn't help but be a little condescending. There was just something so adorable about a virgin trying to be brave.

It wasn't long until a melody of gasps and sugar sweet cries escaped her lips, then went tangling up into the trees. He hadn't expected it at all, but he was cataloging in his head.

This was a memory to keep. A memory for the trenches and the lonely trails. One that might keep him as warm as he was in this moment.

As warm as her dark, pretty skin against his. As warm as those smoldering eyes and those curvy vulpine lips..

A beautiful agony took her expression as she began to quake. Neji followed her lead and the two collapsed into the grass, starring up at the night; The stars looking like spilled powder upon some infinite onyx table.

There was no regret.

At least not at first.

This would change nothing.

He thought it to himself as if he needed reminding. Neji glanced over at her, admiring her chest as it rose and fell, catching the light from the stars. It had nothing on her smile, though. Her pearly fangs seemed to glow in the dark, protruding from her grin as she caught her breath.

Mae noticed him starring and held his gaze for a moment, a thought obvious in her mind, but she didn't speak. She just looked back up to the sky and silently fell to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

The morning brought a chilly mist into the air, wetting their hair and clothes.

Neji looked distant, and even colder than the dawn. His demeanor was a foreboding sight for Mae, and admittedly, a bit heartbreaking too.

Maybe her decision to throw herself at the Shinobi had been an act of desperation. A last and final plea for mercy. However, she'd quickly found her purpose shifting from her head to her heart. The look those eyes had held not hours ago was nothing like the one they held now. He was back on the mountain top. Frigid and unreachable.

They made it to Konoha by midday, carrying a silence between them. She wasn't fighting her fate anymore and followed behind him in a broken kind of hush. She faltered at the gate as it towered over head, dotted by watchful Konohagakure Shinobi, surely just as heartless as the one before her now.

The Geisha Sama at the teahouse looked like every other old Geisha. Wrinkled, and crooked, wearing too much make-up, and enough fabric to wrap an elephant in. She was waiting with a few other Maiko who all bowed politely when Neji and the merchandise arrived.

The Geisha was talking, though Mae couldn't hear her. She was too busy starring at Neji and those cold blank eyes that were avoiding hers at any and all cost.

The Sama casually protruded a clipboard from her robes with a small scroll clasped to its face, and a pen for him to take.

Neji took them in his hands, and for an instant.

For just one instant.

He faltered over the blank space awaiting his name.

Mae's heart skipped a beat painfully in her chest, until he pressed the ball point to the page..

and she was gone..

The two Maiko ushered her inside in a hurry, taking her by the arms as though time were running out. But, didn't they know that it already had? Mae felt nothing, for the first time in her life. One brush of a pen. One single signature, was all it took to seal away her dreams..

Neji watched as they drug her stiff body into the teahouse. She didn't struggle, but it seemed her limbs just wouldn't quite bend. He felt sick. His hands were clammy and shaking, and a throb in his chest made him want to leave as quickly as he could, but he felt frozen, until the voice of the Geisha Sama fell upon his water-logged consciousness.

"And here is your pay!" She sang chipperly. "Koshaku Sama would like to thank you for your service and punctuality."

She thrust a thick envelope into his idle hands. It was heavy, but it felt so light.

He turned on his heel and stepped down onto the road, unsure of where he was going.

He had seen her expression when the Maiko had grabbed her. Her eyes, normally so heated and alive, had starred at the floor, wide and empty. Her rich skin gone pale.

….

They scrubbed, and they dried, and they brushed, primped and wrapped. Chattering amongst themselves as if Mae weren't really there. They weren't wrong. She wasn't.

Her robes were suffocating her, but she hoped that they would wrap them tighter, just in case they actually _could_ cut off her air supply enough to end this madness.

She glanced out the window. This village was beautiful. It hummed with life and food and sunshine. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad thing to live in a place like this..?

She recognized her state. Acceptance was the final stage of grief. She found herself to be a stranger, once more.

 _Hanakichi.._

A pretty little Maiko held her chin, painting on red lips with a long smooth brush stroke.

 _Such a stupid name.._

…

Neji's heart just wouldn't quit. It was beating so hard so fast that he feared sitting down might send him into cardiac arrest. He had to keep walking, to match the energy it was dolling out.

His signature on that page had been burned into his mind. It looked oddly estranged. Had he always signed his name like that?

"Neji! Your Back!"

It was so bold faced against the white of the paper. His H had looked so jagged. Her face..it looked so...gone..

Not like it should. Not like her smile was, glowing in sunshine as it flashed in and out of the noon day shadows from the trees. He could still see her dancing in the arms of that shmuck, wicked and sprightly, and so very, very alive. He saw the gaze she'd had when backing away, him writhing in the dirt, bracing herself to escape when she'd found her trick had worked perfectly. She looked so..ambitious!. A true fighter, unable to give up.

"Neji..! Hellloooo?"

He was pulled from his thoughts just long enough to recognize Rock Lee waving a hand in front of his face as he walked beside him down the road.

"You don't look so good, Neji. Are you alright?" He asked him, sounding quite concerned.

Neji took off, as fast as he could, a plume of gravel in his wake.

"-Hey, What's Going On?!"

He wasn't going to let her give up. He wouldn't allow for it. He wasn't sure what he was going to do. If Dai Koshaku had already retrieved her, it would be far to late.

He reached the teahouse and burst through the door to find the Geisha and Maiko pacing helplessly in a fluster. A small table hand been knocked over. Scrolls of paper and pens littered the floor.

"She just took off?!" One cried.

Neji felt a smile on his lips that trickled down his spine. How could he have actually believed she'd quit? Of course not! She was far too stubborn for that.

He tore through the nearby woods until a flash of bright color caught his eye in the underbrush. It was a pile of robes. A kimono, and a black expensive wig thrown into the weeds without a care.

Not long after, he spotted her, ripping through the forest in a white cotton under-gown, her long hair tumbling viciously with every leap. He came up behind her and she spun around, eyes wide and furious. She braced herself, looking like a cornered animal ready to bite.

"You Signed For Me! Anything I do after that is My Business! Your Own Words! Remember?!" She cried with a desperate and angry break in her voice.

Neji just smiled.

"Where you headed?"

She eyed him suspiciously, still wearing that glare.

"I don't know.."

"Need an escort.?" Neji offered as his smile deepened. He covered the space between them, and took her in his arms before pressing her to the bark of a tree to shimmy the dress up over her thighs.

He wasn't entirely sure of what he was doing, but his decision was made all the same. This girl was something else. Wild and untethered, and entirely unbreakable.

He couldn't quite fathom the allure she held to him, or why he couldn't bare the thought of another man inside her.

He knew only one thing for certain.

In just a few short days this bitter little beauty had taken hold of his heart, and there wasn't a single thing he could do for it now. And if he were being entirely honest with himself, he didn't mind it either.

…...

Neji set her up in a village with a bit of starting cash for an apartment, about a two day walk from Konoha. It wasn't safe for her to stay within the Hidden Leaf.

Sure enough, the Dai Sama had hired scouts to search for his prized concubine gone rogue. A couple convincingly expensive bribes was all it took for the assigned scouts to claim that her remains had wound up outside a wolf den in the mountains.

He was sure the Dai Sama had clicked his tongue and sighed as though he'd broken an appliance that he'd lost the warranty for.

Neji had anticipated seeing her again, but the current status of the war was growing turbulent.

His duty was to the village, and so he remained, biding the time until he could pay that pesky little hellion a visit.

…..

Weeks went by. Then months. Then years.

She waited, gave up on waiting, then waited again, all the while mustering the courage to confront him. Whether their brief and ironic encounter was just that to him, or if his profession was what kept him at bay, or perhaps something worse..

Mae needed answers.

Once the opportunity to travel to Konoha arose, she found her worst fears had been realized.

Standing before his grave now, she could still say with fortitude that she loathed the Shinobi way. To give over your freedom, to risk your life for your nation. It was a life of sacrifice.

Time and circumstance had changed her perception, but learning of his death left her bleeding and bitter. She knew, now, the kind of love that was necessary to give your life for another. But, why did it have to be him?

She liked to think he would have come. Surely he wouldn't have chosen to be absent if he hadn't been robbed of the choice.

He'd given up his life for his friends, his loved ones, his people...

It was selfish, But, even so-

 _No. She hated the Shinobi way.._

Mae smiled, tears welling in her eyes as she glanced down at the little boy holding tight to her hand. Long black hair, and that fair, fair skin. Those mismatched eyes looking like winter. One a cardinal red, the other white as snow, just like his fathers. She mused to herself, admiring their beautiful son.

 _Besides. What good had that Shinobi ever done her, anyway.?_

 _.._


	9. Chapter 9

End Prelude

Thank you so much for reading.

I'll be posting my feature story right here so stay tuned for

 **Haro**

It pertains to Neji's son growing up under the wing of a single mother who's ignorant to all things shinobi. It will center on his struggle to grow up with essentially a weapon in his head that he has no idea how to use...thats all I'm going to give away because screw spoilers!

Fav/follow/review or just sit there lol

I love comments/suggestions/criticisms whatever you wanna throw at me is welcome :)

Thank you so much for reading!

Until next time..


	10. Chapter 10

"Do you have your sunglasses? Put them on.!" Mae fussed quietly while tugging up the messy bun in her son's inky hair.

He had his fathers aristocratic frame, even at the age of 15, and the high and laxed up-do helped to soften those distinctive Hyugan features.

"Yes, Ama.." Haro sighed, as he slipped his sunglasses on and flashed his anxious mother a goofy smile.

"They're still too big on you." She giggled, "But keep them on, okay?"

Haro nodded and the two fell silent as they neared the gate.

Every three years his mother insisted that they journey to Konoha and visit his father's grave, and every three years she disintegrated into a completely nervous wreck.

She didn't like bringing him here. She said it wasn't safe, and that it was imperative he stay close and quiet, and keep his eye hidden.

 _Byakugan_ , she would call it. Haro would chuckle at such a name. Apparently it was passed down by his father, a man who had died in the Fourth Shinobi War, before he was even born.

Mae didn't mind talking about him, but she admitted on more than one occasion that she only had so much to share. After all their encounter was quite brief.

Haro didn't care much that he was an accident. To be upset about receiving life was such a stupid notion. How could he be mad beneath a sun as warm and bright as the one above them now?

The gate was tall, but not as tall as it had seemed three years ago. The Shinobi above him looked menacing and intimidating, bandages and flak jackets serving to intensify their calculative glares.

He could feel his mothers tension effervescent from her loose, yellow tunic dress, like a plume of heat.

Once they passed through, the village unraveled before them. A quiet bustle lofted through the air as people bobbed in and out of shops.

Rust red paper lanterns swung from their fixtures in the gentle air that held the sweet aroma of street food.

Haro spotted a group of boys around his age all sporting the uniform headband baring the Konohagakure symbol with pride. His dad had been one of those boys once. He wished he could put a face to the name, but his mother had only her descriptions.

 _"He was a very handsome man. That's where you get it from you know...stubborn too." She chuckled giving him a sour smirk "guess you inherited that as well."_

They passed a vendor for Takoyaki and Haro tried to hold his breath to keep his stomach from growling ravenously. He knew they couldn't afford food right now, and he didn't like making his mom feel guilty about it. Her eyes would get so heavy and sad, like she thought she had failed him every second of his 15 years alive.

Mae tried hard, she worked hard, and they made their best money performing in the streets. She would pick up odd jobs harvesting in the fall, but they were most successful in the summer months.

Haro would play his hang drum and Mae would strum her zither and sing along, and on a good night they could walk away with enough money to get them through an entire week, and then some. It was those few short months where the two would splurge and live like kings, and Haro was very much looking forward to it.

..

The Konoha memorial grounds, were, as usual, quite a sight. Within the flat barrier wall, a sea of symmetrical headstones stretched on in dizzying lines against the neat grass.

Mae lead the way through the succession with Haro in toe, feeling the air around his mother change. It always did.

She knew exactly where it was, and upon reaching his stone, she seemed to freeze starring down at it.

Haro couldn't help but wonder why she always insisted on coming back here if she was so worried about his eye.

He obviously had never met his father, and though it was because he'd passed away, there was no hard evidence to insinuate even if he _had_ lived, that he would have come to claim him as his son. He was a bastard child after all, born out of wet lock to a run-away slave. And from what he knew about his father, it seemed that he were a part of a prestigious and powerful clan of Shinobi, renowned for their skill as worriers and wielders of a valuable Doujutsu.

Haro found it a bit unlikely that a man with a tag on to his name like that would ever admit to having a kid with a good, and simple woman like his mother.

The head stone was large, but plain, bearing the name Neji Hyuga.

 _Hyuga._

Haro and his mother never had a last name, and if they did she never talked about it. Haro didn't mind. Just less for people to remember him by, considering that Mae liked to stay on the road.

He glanced around the cemetery and began to wander about reading off names to himself, imagining how awful it would be to just disappear into this sea of the dead the way all these ninja had.

"Don't stray too far.." Mae reminded him softly as she sank to her knees.

The grass was cool on her bare shins, and the stone before her was cold enough to hold a chill around it.

Perhaps she was crazy for coming here. It wasn't as though he were aware of her presence, or even the fact that she bore him a son, but even so, she was thankful. Neji had unknowingly given her the best gift another could ever give.

Haro was a wonderful boy. A kind hearted, light spirited boy, with a good head on his shoulders. She often wondered if lugging him around the country, instead of settling down somewhere, were a mistake. Would he be happier with a consistent kind of life? He would have friends, then..

Mae's heart ached a bit in her chest. She cleared her throat and nervously ran a blade of grass between her fingertips, studying the grooves in the headstone before her.

Mae was afraid to stay in one place, for fear that others would discover how special her son was. She didn't know much about his Doujutsu, but she knew enough to be afraid. Neji had worn a seal to keep it from the hands of the wicked, and now her own son was weilding that same weapon, unguarded by the clan marking, leaving him open to danger. She certainly didn't want him branded by the clan either. It was a lose lose situation all around, and Mae found it best to just lay low and keep on moving. Keep him hidden. Keep him safe.

This trip to Konoha that they took every three years was the most danger she would allow, and as foolish as it was, she couldn't keep herself from returning.

Though he never knew his son, for some reason, sitting here in the grass before his memory, was soothing..as if all this time Mae hadn't actually been raising him alone..

Quiet foot steps sounded behind her and before she could turn around she heard a soft voice say,

"Excuse me, I've never had company here before."

Mae shot to her feet and spun around to find a beautiful woman with eyes that made her heart wrench painfully in her chest. They were Neji's eyes..Pastel and glowing like a morning fog.

"I didn't mean to startle you, my names Hinata. Hinata Hyuga."

Her voice was so soft that it barely registered as a language to Mae, but when she'd faltered through her shock she managed to stammer,

"Sorry-I I was just paying my respects.."

Hinata nodded with a soft smile.

"Forgive me for prying but, how did you know my Cousin?" She asked gently, glancing between his head stone and Mae's wide red eyes. "The only other _woman_ I've ever seen here is one of his team members, excluding myself of course."

Mae stuttered as a hot flush of nerves shot around inside so fast that they seemed to tangle and clot.

"I uh, he- he helped me..in a jam once.."

Hinata studied her flustered state, and smiled.

"I see. Well its comforting to know I'm not the only one who will never forget him.."

Mae's heart slowed a bit, studying her adoring gaze. It was comforting after all, to know, and see for herself, his own family. But, at the same time, the impending confrontation she had been trying for fifteen years to avoid was reaching an apex, and Mae was desperate for a way out.

Of course, as she wracked her glitching brain for an escape from the situation, who should saunter up but Haro.

"Hey, Ama. Ready to-"

Hinata glanced over to Haro who stood frozen a few paces away from them, looking stark white from behind his sunglasses.

It was a beguiling sight for him, to see his own gaze in someone else's head.

Though Hinata couldn't see _his_ eyes, the curve of his jaw, and that distinct thick hair was enough to flat line her attention.

A festering silence fell over the memorial grounds, until Mae's shaking hands accidentally let slip the kerchief in her fingers.

Haro snapped down nervously to pick it up, anything to seem casual before they could retreated into the village and high tail it out of there. But, when the sunglasses on his nose tumbled to the grass as he stood, the static in the air seemed to press down around them.

There was no time to correct it.

Hinata was starring right at him, eyes wide and frozen. Her face furrowed as she studied him. The spitting image of her own flesh and blood..

"... _Neji._.?"


	11. Chapter 11

"Wait! Please!" Hinata called as she sauntered after them with brimming eyes.

Mae was dragging Haro across the grass in a frenzy, nearly breaking into a run.

"Ow! My ear!" Haro whined, tripping a bit beneath his mothers vice-like grip.

"I just can't believe it!" Hinata chimed as she ran ahead to stop them in their path, hands poised over her lips, but still unable to retain the smile beneath. "You look just like him!" She cried softly, as she looped him into a hug.

Haro blushed and went red, but Mae _saw_ red. She snatched him from her arms and stepped between them wearing a glare that could slice through a stone.

"You'll tell _no one_ of this.." She growled darkly. Haro was stunned to see his mother so livid and severe, and Hinata looked equally shocked.

Mae was studying the womans bare forehead with a look of confusion that Hinata didn't seem to recognize. It was to Mae's understanding that all Hyuga were to bare the seal. Perhaps that were not the case..

"But, Naruto! He has to meet him! He'll be so thrilled to know that Neji had a son before he.."

"Woah, wait. Naruto.. _Uzumaki_? The _Hokage_..?" Haro gasped in awe.

Hinata nodded happily, "Yes, he's my husband!"

Mae and Haro fell a bit pale, feeling suddenly quite minuscule, and also extremely rude.

Hinata seemed to catch up very suddenly to Mae's previous train of thought as she starred at the blank brow of the young man with a careful expression.

"I understand that you don't want anyone to know you're here, and I can certainly grant you that. I promise you..your family will keep your secret." Hinata assured Haro with a loving smile as she rested a hand on his shoulder. "But, I really think you should meet your cousins!"

…

Mae couldn't believe she was allowing this to happen. But, how could she refuse the Kage's wife!? Surely her intentions were good, and she seemed like a very nice woman, but the danger that this encounter imposed was nearly too much to bare.

She watched her son follow in front of her, his hang drum was slung over his shoulder and bouncing with every step, its gloss black coating catching the last hints of evening sunlight.

They would not perform in Konoha this trip, not after being found out, even _if_ Hinata had promised secrecy.

Mae sighed. Konoha was one of their best villages to play. Now they'd be penny-less until the next village.

Hinata lead them straight through town to an enormous ovular compound, gleaming white as if it were newly erected. It even smelled like fresh wood.

"I hope you'll at least stay for dinner." Hinata beckoned kindly as she opened the heavy door adjacent to the main entry that lead to a separate interlocking structure.

Before she could open the door but an inch, a ruckus came pouring from within that startled all but Hinata, who swiped casually at the blur that came zipping out from the doorway. The flash came into focus from the dead stop she caused, and a boy hung from her grip, struggling from his jacket collar like an angry pup.

"Mah! Cuh Eh Ouu!" He grumbled with a sandwich clenched in his jaw.

Hinata shook her head, and released him.

"I told you, dinner will be ready in an hour or so! Didn't you smell the slow cookers!"

"Duh! What do you think this sandwich is made of!" He cried with a broad white grin on his lively face.

Hinata snatched the sandwich from his grip with a tsk, and then gestured to their guests wearing an eager smile.

"Boruto! This is-"

"Get back Here You Little-"

A man's rough and bellowing voice came erupting from behind the door, and through it burst a tall blond in an orange and black jacket, looking livid and crazy.

"There you are!" He roared, turning on his small carbon copy.

"You Heard Your Mother This Morning.." The man trailed off as he looked around to find Hinata and company, starring in bewilderment.

"Oh hey Sweetheart...! You're back early..and you brought guests!" The man shouted with a forced jovial tone before giving them a chipper nod and wave.

"Yes, Mae, Haro. This is Naruto Uzumaki, Seventh Ho-"

"I'm not wearing the robe. Just Naruto is fine!" He chimed giving them a thumbs up.

"Of course," Hinata chuckled, " Naruto this is-"

Unbelievably, for the third time in less than a minute, a third interruption came scurrying from the doorway.

A little girl came skipping out, paying barely attention to anything but her whistling before she went crashing into Haro's knees, then fell back onto her butt.

Haro knelt down to help her and smiled.

"I'm sorry about that." He offered softly, when suddenly the glasses once again tumbled from his nose.

Mae slapped a hand to her face with a sigh _. It was time to get ones that actually fit_.

The little girl looked up at him and smiled, with a wide happy gaze of blue.

"Hey Mama, Look! He has one eye like you!"

Hinata smiled and glanced at her husband as her own eyes began to water.

"Naruto..this is Neji's son..Haro.."

Naruto's brows knit together as he studied the boy. It was like starring into the past. He could see him all over again, arms crossed in the hallways at school. Sitting smug and silent at his desk.

And then he saw him in the grass, on his back, blood bubbling from his chest..

He shook the thought viscously from his mind and let the painful happiness inside him take hold. Haro jumped as the big man wrapped him in a tight embrace and cried,

"Neji You Sly Dog! You always were one step ahead of me. Looks like having Kids was no exception!"

..

Their dining room was spacious and clean, an enormous bay window letting in the glow of the village from a million lampposts and shops, burning red, orange and yellow through the dark night.

Hinata's Sweet Chili Chicken was to die for and it took all of Mae's composure to keep from shoveling it into her empty stomach like an animal. She glanced over at her son who didn't seem to harbor the thought of restraint as he picked up his plate to use his chop sticks like a plow truck, pushing it eagrly down his throat. She were about to hiss and stomp on his foot when she noticed the Hokage himself, unhinging his jaw like a boa to swallow his food without chewing. Hinata was all smiles, seeming unaware of the display, as if it were common place.

"I have so many questions, I'm not sure where to begin!" Hinata sighed happily as she folded her hands beneath her chin to rest her gaze on Mae and Haro.

"How old are you, Haro?"

"Fifteen.." He offered shyly after swallowing an inhumanly large mouthful.

"I don't see a headband. Guess your not a shinobi, huh? What village are you from?" Naruto asked, leaning back in his chair looking satisfied and full.

Haro glanced at his mother, who cleared her throat.

"We're travelers. We don't identify with any one village."

"That's awesome!" Boruto shouted excitedly, "I bet you've seen so much!"

"What's that?" Himawari interrupted, pointing to the hang drum that was slung over the back of Haro's chair. She was sitting in her own chair with a few stacked dictionary's beneath her so that her tiny frame could reach the table.

"We play music." Haro offered with a chipper smile. "That's how we make money. We're pretty good!"

Mae smiled a bit at her sons warmth. Always such a happy boy. Almost a man now, it seemed, in the company of this other boy who was only a few years younger, but an ocean away when it came to a sense of maturity.

Mae noticed Boruto poking at a mobile phone that illuminated his face in pale light. He seemed to be draw into it and devoid of consciousness as Naruto nudged him and gave him a scolding shake of his head.

"Damn Cell phones, those are supposed to be for missions! This world isn't what it used to be.."

"Not now, Naruto..." Hinata sighed softly, resting her hand on her husbands knuckles.

"Don't get mad at me just cuz I'm not growing up in the dark ages!" Boruto chided.

"Back then, being a successful Shinobi meant something. It meant you worked hard and earned your name! Now a days all anyone wants to do is coddle and spoil the youth. Just because the nations are at peace now, doesn't mean they always will be. And what then? We'll have entire brigades of misnomers running around protecting the village with electronically instilled egos, and nothing but a Kote to back it up!"

Hinata crooned into her palm and shook her head at her husbands rant, then smiled up at Mae trying to change the subject.

"So Mae, how did you and Neji meet?"

Mae seemed immobilized by the question until Haro gave her a reassuring smile.

She didn't want to say. It was shameful for her son, though Haro never seemed to care much. It was also shameful for her self. In the company of the Kage and his prestigious family, how was she to explain that she were almost a concubine to a man three times her age before Stockholm Syndrome corrupted her fate, turning her into an unwed teenage mother.

"He was, ah.."

Haro's smile deepened, but he raised a brow as if to indicate that she were being silly. Mae glanced at the youngest child and chose her words cautiously.

"I used to train as a Maiko in Kyoko. Until I was hired as.. _entertainment_ for one of your local tycoons. Neji was assigned to escourt me from Kyoko to Konoha.. And along the way.." Mae paused as her blush caused her vision to blur. "Along the way he decided that he'd rather me not work for the man.."

Hinata's smile went red as she broke her gaze and glanced at Naruto who was beaming.

"And then there I was.." Haro added with a chuckle to break the tension his mother was feeling.

"To say your father was a talented Shinobi would be an understatement. He had one of the purest Kekkei Genkai of our Clan." Hinata said devotedly.

Mae flinched. _Our Clan_.

"He was a remarkable man. Losing him was... You don't come across guys like him every day.." Naruto added with thoughtful eyes, seeming wounded by his own words. "And, between Hinata and myself, we've got plenty of stories. We've also got an empty guest room. You two should stay and make yourselves at home. Tomorrow it's back to work for me, but-"

Naruto was cut off by a scoff from his son, who was half absorbed into his phone again.

"I'd love to get to know the two of you. Himawari and I have plenty of time while Boruto is in class." Hinata said as she smiled at her daughter who had not yet taken her gaze away from the peculiar boy.

His eyes were odd after all. Separate, the pairing wouldn't have been so strange, but the piercing red beside the gentle featureless white was so unique to her.

Mae stammered, "I don't know if-"

A ripple through the air shook a wall fixture to the floor. Metallic buzzed in between breaths, along with the taste of singeing, sour mercury. A far off crack of thunder followed a bright and blinding light that sent the room to their feet. As the shock wave rolled past, the window outside began to darken. One by one the village lights winked out until the land below was nothing but pitch black beneath the cloudy moonless night. The light above the kitchen table crackled out and finally, the pale blue of Boruto's phone sputtered to death, leaving them all in a tense dark.

"What Was That?!" Boruto shouted.

Hinata walked swiftly to the cupboard for candles and brought the room back into view for the rest of them, to find that the Hokage had already gone.

"You're father will handle this.." Hinata said with an heir of calm, but Mae thought that she could hear the faintest shred of uncertainty in her voice. After all, whatever had caused the outage was powerful enough to leave a tingle in the air of its wake.

"Ama..." Haro said softly, starring with watchful uncertain eyes before reaching for a napkin and bringing it to her nose. "Your bleeding.."

"Mama why is her nose bleeding?" Himawari cried as she scampered to Hinata's side to cling to her pant leg.

Hinata had activated her Byakugan to see through the darkness. Starring at Mae now, she found something she'd never before seen.

Her gates were weak, her chakra a mere drizzle of deep, coagulant red. The pulse of energy that had surged through the air had been enough to wound her. Hinata had never seen such a frail creature. Thankfully Haro seemed to have inherited Neji's genetics, having more then enough natural Chakra, in that same shade of pulsing Cerulean.

"Piece of junk!" Boruto threw his phone down onto the table in the flickering candle light. "What do we do now?" The young blond barked, feeling frustrated by the inevitable answer his mother was about to give.

Hinata stared out the window into the darkness of the village, its lack of light seeming very alien, inspiring a sense of isolation. Hinata sighed, holding to her daughters shoulders.

"We just have to wait.."


	12. Chapter 12

"If it was an EMP then it's unlike any I've ever seen. It destroyed electronics that weren't even plugged in. Melted the batteries in storage, and completely obliterated the power grid. All the products we had on retainer to replace them in the future are mostly shot. We're waiting for word from Sand, Sound, and Mist but even TeleFax is down, so I can only assume they too we're effected by the attack.." Shikamarou sighed, a bit winded by his explanation as he stood before Naruto's desk.

"The software in all my Kotes were completely destroyed, too.." Katasuke appealed in agony, having come to Hokage's office to find answers that he himself had not yet received.

"Who let _you_ in here..?" Naruto grumbled to the self-serving scientist.

Before the heavy jawed man could respond, Shikamarou went on.

"Motorized appliances inside homes were unaffected. Other appliances that are connected to the new solar panels are still in tact with only slight degradation, between five and ten percent. Our water systems are hooked up to a gas burner now."

"So, at least we've retained hot water in the bath houses." Kakashi piped up from the wall where he was leaning, clasping a paper back in his grip.

Naruto leaned back in his chair before using his hands to gesture his next question.

"So what you're telling me is...everything is fine, except the stupid cellphones, computers, and Kotes and all that new tech-garbage?"

"Yes, Lord Hokage." Shikamarou's assistant chimed in.

"That's Fucking Fantastic!" Naruto cried while slapping his knee.

"I wouldn't simplify it so quickly.." Shikamarou said, while giving his naive assistant a sharp glare. "Electricity for housing is pretty damaged. A lot of the power lines completely short circuited beyond repair and need to be replaced. I'd guess that about 3/4 of the village will be without power for at least a month. With communications down between Hidden villages, transport for necessary materials will take a while." Shikamarou added, looking irritated and tired.

"The delay of information wont be helpful in a tactical sense, should anything arise about what exactly caused this attack." Kakashi added. "The black out has left us open and vulnerable. Not a lot of Shinobi now a days remember living like it used to be. Hell, even the ones that grew up without telephones have gotten lazy.."

"You're telling me.." Naruto grumbled. "But, don't you worry about tactics. The village is on alert. All able bodied Shinobi and Kunoichi are posted accordingly. _No One_ is getting inside the village without jurisdiction. Rock Lee should be back any-"

"Lord Hokage!" The green jump suite bellowed as he came puffing into the room in a blur.

"Just in time! So whats going on Lee?"

"I was just entering Kumogakuru when the Jounin from Iwagakuru showed up saying the same. All the villages are without power, Lord Hokage." Rock Lee sputtered between breaths before bending down to cinch up his ankle weights. "I think it's safe to say that we'll need to convert back to wind farms and water mills for electricity."

"Once the power lines are replaced...which.. _again_.."Shikamarou offered with a lazy eye roll as if no one had heard him the first two times explaining it.

"Right." Naruto said, giving a short nod before standing from his desk. "Keep surveillance a priority, and report to me if anything arises..Do I even need to say that..? I mean, Isn't it obvious.?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Of course, _'Lord Hokage'._ "

Kakashi and Rock Lee were about to reach the door when a scout appeared, heaving to catch his breath while resting on his knees.

"What is it?" Naruto asked rather unabashedly, irritated by the delay.

"It's Kirigakure, Sir. Something..quite disturbing is happening.."

The room seemed to brace before the young chunin went on.

"There have been disappearances..civilians. The Mizukage had declared about fifteen to have gone missing so far..mostly men between the ages of twenty five and thirty. This happened over night, Lord Hokage! During the black out!"

A sickening void crept into the room.

"That's not the worst of it.." The chunin declared darkly, his gaze narrowing beneath his thoughts.

"The body's weren't found..but...their skins were.."

…

The sun was coming up over the village, bringing it back from the seemingly endless darkness. Hinata was boiling water for tea over the fireplace, when Haro came into the room.

"You're up early." She sang softly, "My Boruto would sleep all day if he could. Just like his father."

"I'm surprised Ama's not awake yet. I think she's pretty wore out.."

Hinata nodded somberly to the boy, and wondered if he knew anything about his mothers odd condition. When she glanced past him at the fallen family portrait it brought a thought into mind.

"Haro..." Hinata began, as she scurried into another room and quickly rushed back with a photo in her hands. "Have you ever seen your father?.."

Haro shook his head, and a sudden ping of anticipation in his gut sent his heart racing. She held out the photograph and he took it.

Haro was stunned.

It _was_ like looking in a mirror, though the man was obviously older, possibly eighteen, wearing a different smile than Haro usually did. A little less happy, a little more serious.

His gaze was solid and piercing, seeming to stare him down and calculate his worth, weighing his value as an offspring.

"You can hold onto that." Hinata offered. Haro bowed, and thanked her very whole heartedly before she went to tend to the kettle over the fire.

"You know those sunglasses you had earlier wont do." She said with a chuckle, before glancing over her shoulder at him. "I've got a solution for that."

..

Mae woke up alone to the sounds of soft voices. She made her way to the kitchen to find Haro seated at a dining room chair across from his cousins, Hinata standing over him, winding a black elastic band around his eye.

"You almost look like a Shinobi!" Himawari shouted, pointing a finger at his nose with a goofy grin.

"Remember, Hima..No one is to know that Haro is related to us. He's just a friend visiting from another village, alright?"

"Yes, Mama."

"Oh! Good morning!" Hinata offered happily as Mae walked into the room feeling a bit estranged. She gave her a nod and eyed her son with a furrow in her brow.

"You feeling okay, Ama?" Haro asked.

He didn't look right. He looked...too old with that band around his head. He noted her studying it and said, "Hinata thought this would be safer than the sunglasses. This way I can keep it hidden more easily, just while were here."

Mae nodded, "Well, I think it's time to get on our way.."

Hinata glanced around the room uncomfortably, "Uh..well the village is on lock down right now..no one gets in or out without permission..I mean it would be quite easy for you to get it, I'm sure, but you'd still have to go appeal to the Hokage.."

Mae sighed in disbelief. Of course. Lock down. Now they were stuck like rabbits in a wolf den.

"That being said, Boruto, would you go and see if old Akihori needs help starting his back up generator. Bring this as well..it got cold last night. I'm sure he'd appreciate something warm to eat."

She placed a covered box of hot food down on the table before him.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure." Boruto sighed as he finished his breakfast and took up the bento box.

"Go straight there so it doesn't get cold."

"Can I go too, Mama?"

Hinata nodded to her daughter. Haro stood as well, and was about to follow them down the hall to the door when Mae softly called his name.

Haro turned around, his red eye gleaming warmly. The only one visible from behind the band.

"It's alright, Ama..I'm coming right back.."

Mae blushed, feeling embarrassed by her own anxiety, but she just couldn't help it. This whole situation was out of control and she seemed to be the only one acknowledging the consequences. She watched them disappear out the door, unaware that Hinata was looking at her with a sad little smile.

"This must be hard for you.." She began gently. "Boruto seems like trouble, but he wont let anything happen to Haro, I can promise you that."

"He's all I've got..Protecting him is all that matters..and since we've come here I've been failing horribly at it. It's like he's.."

"Growing up..?" Hinata offered with a curl of her smile. "He's not so young you know..someday, you'll have to let him become a man..I don't think I ever had a hold on Boruto! He grew up much too fast. In some ways I'm envious of your closeness with Haro.."

 _Envious_. Mae humored herself. All she ever wanted was for Haro to be a normal boy, like Boruto. To have freedom and friendship, and his mothers fear kept all those things from him..

There was nothing to be envious of.

...

The three were standing slack jawed starring up at a charred and smoking power line, small sparks sputtering from the damaged wires.

"Why did it start on fire, big brother?" Himawari peeped.

Boruto shrugged, "I don't know, but I'm sure dad will figure it out."

Haro noted that the city seemed unaffected by the attack. People buzzed through the market and carried on with their lives, perhaps taking an extra step or two with the appliances out of whack, but over all the day rolled on.

"I don't mean to be bossy but, where exactly is that bento box headed? I'm sure it's room temp by now."

"You're kind of a goody good aren't you.?" Boruto sneered at Haro, rolling his eyes as he sauntered down the road.

"I think he's nice." Himawari giggled, reaching up for the tall boys hand to walk with him. Haro smiled down at her,

"I think you're pretty cute, too." he exclaimed brightly.

Himawari flushed pink and held her other tiny hand to her cheek. "You're going to be my Atarashii Ani!" she exclaimed.

"Hey! That's not cool Hima!" Boruto spat as scarlet dyed his angry face.

"You know, that Doujutsu is wasted on you.. You should give it to me!" Boruto cried, thrusting a finger at Haro who stood looking horrified.

"Is that even a thing!?" Haro baffled.

Boruto ignored his response and shoved his hands back in his pockets with a thoughtful smirk.

"Nah, I know I've got the Byakugan..I can just feel it..I just need someone to show me how to access it!" He suddenly shouted as he turned back around. "Gramps says I probably don't have it and that if I do, it comes with age...but I don't have time for that! SO, You're Going To Teach Me How To Access The Byakugan!"

Haro choked on air for a moment before sputtering,

"What!? I don't know how to use the Byakugan. I don't even think mine works...?"

"Of course it does!" Boruto growled in frustration. "Just look at your face! How do you not know how to use it!? Himawari's used it and hers is dormant until she gets all mad and crazy!"

"Why not have your Mother teach you?" Haro suggested.

Boruto scoffed and lead the way down the road once more, a bit less animated and angry.

"She says you can't train with it until it manifests..since were not full blood..But you're not full blood and look at you! Yours is plain as day. Was it always like that?"

Haro nodded. "Yeah. Ama says I was born with it. She always jokes and says the only thing she gave me was this red, dud eye. You said Himawari knows how, why not have her teach you?" Haro offered as he squeezed the hand of the little girl who blushed up delightedly at him.

Boruto seemed to shudder at his little sister who stuck her tongue out at him.

"Himawaris too.."

"I'm scary!" She added playfully, causing her brother to jump.

"Sorry Boruto.." Haro shrugged, feeling at a loss.

The blond sighed studying the dirt path as it fell beneath his feet before glancing at his newly discovered cousin.

"But don't you want to learn how to use it? I mean, knowing that you have it, not to mention it's probably a pretty powerful one considering how much everyone talks about your dad. He's kind of a legend.. Wouldn't you want to know how to do the same things he did...?"

"Guess I've never really had time to think about it.."

"Yeah your mom is kind of a spaz, huh.."

Haro's eyes darkened as he rounded on the boy like an ominous cloud full of silent energy waiting to strike.

" _Don't you ever talk about her like that_.." His voice was even and low, and it was enough to silence the boy before a slew of anxious apologies came tumbling forth.

"What are you, some kind of Mama's boy?" A voice sounded from ahead on the road. A girl stood, about Haro's age, wearing a mask over her lips and chin, but even so the outline of a smirk ran divots in the pitch fabric.

Haro studied the new company.

She had choppy long hair up in a jagged pony tail, the color of cigarette ash. Her eyes were the only part of her face she allowed, and they held no color, just a deep and endless black. She wore wrappings on her forearms and shins, peeking from beneath a bysmal gray Kimono sweater that fell loosely to her knees. Her colorless shillouette gave the impression of a rain spattered stone.

Haro was frustrated by her intrusion and offered calmly.

"I guess I am.."

His response could have been funny had his voice not been entirely too low and grown up for a boy of fifteen.

The girl stood a bit taken back by his sturdy and unwavering admittance. If he were at all flustered by her, not a one of them could tell it.

"So, you're that Dead Hyuga Genius's son?"

"You're such a snoop, Sumoki! Why are you spying on us!" Boruto demanded.

Haro felt a ping in his chest. If this girl knew who he was, and told others, he'd be screwed, not to mention his Ama would kill him.

The girl called Sumoki sighed, pulling down her mask to reveal a full pout stretched over pearly whites.

"It's kind of my wheel house, Boruto."

"Whatever, your not a part of the Allied Shinobi Intel Unit yet.." Boruto seemed to snicker with an undertone of jealousy. "And either way, stay out of our business!"

"It's sort of hard not to eavesdrop with you yelling all the time.." Sumoki chuckled softly, giving the angry little hellion a wink to shift his shouting into a silent blush.

"So, no one brought up your name..?" Sumoki said turning to study Haro. Her soft and seemingly welcoming tone contrasted against her sharp features. She looked to Haro like someone who could have a million personalities, just festering below the surface, waiting to take over.

"You have no reason to know it." Haro divulged nothing.

"I suppose not.. I Wonder what the Hyuga clan would think about someone like you just running around..?"

"Cut the crap, Sumoki. Shouldn't you be off practicing for the Chunin exams or something?" Boruto scrutnized.

The steely girl seemed to falter a moment and the young Uzumaki was immediately regretful.

"Sorry, I forgot.."

She looked severely at him before passing the space between them and bending down to bring her gaze very close to his.

" **Don't** Forget..." She demanded before straightening up and letting a soft smile take her lips once more.

"Don't worry 'Half Hyuga'." She offered, turning to hold his gaze long enough for him to notice a small beauty mark beneath her right eye. "Your secret is safe with me.." And at that she tugged the mask back over her face and disappeared up into the trees.

"Who was that?" Haro asked, feeling a bit shaky beneath the realization that his fate was bounding away through branches, in her hands.

"Sumoki Hatake.." Boruto grumbled, "Kakashi sensai's daughter. She's a real sneaky one. That's why she wants to be an intellegence gatherer when shes promoted to chunin..well, _if_ shes promoted. I doubt that it will work out this year.." Boruto went on leadingly.

"Why's that?" Haro asked.

"Well you need three to a team, and I guess their third passed away. Some kind of accident or something.. I didn't know the kid."

Haro had no chance to feel a response. The little girl beside him had cut through the conversation.

"You're going to be late for school again, Boruto!" Himawari piped up from near Haro's leg. "I'm telling Mama!"

Boruto went pale and thrust the bento box into Haro's hands and took off shouting. "Himawari knows where to take it!"

The little girl glanced up at him with a sneaky smile, as if she'd wanted to get him alone all along.

"Come on, Atarashi Ani!" she sang with a sweet little trill.

"So, how old are you, Himawari?" Haro inquired as she lead him by the hand down the road. She seemed to loop her little arm around his in a formal kind of eloquence, as if he were leading a little princess toward a ballroom.

"I'm nine! But everyone says I look ten!" She declaired proudly.

Haro chuckled, "And your brother? How old is he?"

"He's eleven. It's his last year at the academy, if he doesn't get held back that is. That's why Mama's so mad at him. He's always late for school."

"Ah, I see."

"I bet that's why he wants the Byakugan.." She added with a huff. "He just wants it to make sure he graduates on time!"

"And why aren't you in school?"

"Mama gave us the option to be home school, or go to the academy. She says as long as i go and pass all my tests then its okay. Boruto wanted to go to school with all the mean kids..I didn't want to.."

"Mean kids?"

Himawari glanced at her sandals and lamented, "There's a lot of branch Hyuga kids in my school now. Mama says they had a baby boom in the clan so all the kids are around the same age..they aren't nice to me and big brother..but Boruto doesn't care about that stuff.."

"Why aren't they nice to you?" Haro inquired gently.

"Cuz mama's a main house Hyuga, and Daddy is Hokage..They're just jealous!"

Haro wasn't aware that there were different classes of Hyuga, mostly because the thought had never occurred. He'd save that inquiry for someone old enough to properly explain it.

"I'm sort of home schooled too." he went on. "My mom got a decent education at the Teahouse in Kyoko, so she taught me all the basics. Math, History, Biology, the works. And she's really adamant about keeping my studies going, so every village we pass through she buys me a new book." Haro thrust his thumb over his shoulder to gesture to his back pack full of textbooks. "It's really important to her that I keep studying. Sometimes she buys books over food. She's serious about it."

"What are you reading about now? Mama's teaching me multiplication. I hate it!" Hima cried.

"I could help you if you want. I'm pretty good at math. Coincidentally, right now I'm reading about the history of the Fire Nation. It's a really big book. I think its making my shoulders chafe." Haro teased as he re-situated his pack straps, letting his tiniest long lost family member tug him down the quiet road.

She lead him to a sagging hovel toward the outskirts of town. The chimney was collapsed, and the smell of mud clung to the air.

"This is Aki's house. He's an old friend of my Daddy's. And I mean _really_ old!"

She sauntered up and knocked on the door before walking in without waiting for an answer.

"Aki-Sama! It's me! Himawari!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. Haro followed her in, tilting his head to fit inside the doorframe that was hunched beneath a hundred years of moss and rain. The house smelled of earth and old stale hashish. In a chair beside an ashen fireplace lay an old man, looking too stiff. His skin was withered and gray, and overall he looked very certainly dead.

 _Oh no_.

"Uh, Himawari, why don't you wait outside for a minute." Haro instructed gently as he took her shoulder and guided her toward the door.

"How come?" She peeped, looking up at him with an innocence that nearly melted his heart.

A hacking cough and a rusty curse word came scratching out from beneath the old quilt that covered the gnarled man. Haro jumped in utter surprise as Himawari skipped up to the geezer and hopped into his lap.

"Hi, kusojijii!" She sang loudly into his hairy ear. Haro wasn't certain that the title were as endearing as she intended it to be, but the old man just let out a semblance of a chuckle before a harsh growl tumbled forth.

"And what have you brought me today, little pest.?"

"Mama made you some dinner. I don't know what it is, and Haro is here to start you a fire and turn on your backed up generation!" She explained, clearly having no idea what a back up generator was.

The old man ushered him forward and Haro quickly found that he was blind, his eyes shrouded in thick cataracts.

Regardless, Haro knew to respect his elders and gave him a deep bow and said. "Nice to meet you Akihori Sama. I apologize for your food being cold, would you like me to heat it up?"

The old man raised a feathered brow and smiled a broad wooden smile.

"I see some of the youth still hold fast to the tradition of respect. Hand it over boy, I can't taste a damn thing anyway."

Haro set the bento box in his lap, and Hima opened it for him and put the spoon in his shaking hand.

Haro set to starting a fire with the tinder beside him in the iron wood cage. He found a few things in the fireplace, like an old shoe and a deck scrub brush that the old man must have tossed in thinking it was firewood.

Haro held in a laugh and stood as the new flames brought light and warmth into the old hut.

"Ah, thats nice isn't it.." Aki Sighed, patting the little girl in his lap. "Now Boy, tell me again your name."

"Haro." He said, feeling that it were safe to say it here. After all he was blind.

"Just Haro, eh?"

"Yes sir."

"My generator's busted. You can look at it but I know the damn things done."

Haro spotted it out the window amidst the rubble of a burned down shed. Definitely beyond his level of expertise.

"I'm sorry. I'll let HinataSama know so she can send someone to fix it."

"So, Haro.. who is your father. I know every name and lineage in this village. Where is it your roots have dug."

Haro felt a bit uneasy. It was just like the elderly to only care about a bloodline, and certainly it was worth remembering, but he had nothing he felt like sharing.

"I never knew my father. I'm not from this village, Sir."

The old man sucked his stained teeth and instructed him to come closer. Haro did, and when he was in reach, the old man snatched his hand so fast it made him jump. He seemed barely fit to breath on his own, much less, wield a grip like the one he had on him now.

"Ha!" Aki bellowed. Hima looked quite entertained, glancing between the two of them.

"Always such a waste when the gifted lay idle isn't it..? But, oh.? The slugs?! Nasty things too! You should tend to that, boy! Tend to that straight away!"

"Excuse me..?"

Himawari giggled, giving the old man a hug before hopping off his lap.

"Don't mind him, he's a little loopy sometimes. Need anything else gramps?" She screamed as she leaned into his face.

"NO, no just tend to that! She's not fit to fare it.!" the elder croaked, concern tainting his already strained pitch.

"Okay, see ya!" Himawari sang as she clung to Haro's hand and drug him out the door.

"What was all that about slugs? And should he really be living alone..?" Haro asked the little girl as she skipped beside him toward the Hokage estate.

"He doesn't want to live in a senior home. He refuses. And I don't know. He's always rambling on about something. He's really crazy. Today was a pretty good day compared to most times I see him."

..

When they made it inside to the Uzumaki kitchen, they found Hinata and Mae sat at the table having tea. Mae was smiling, but Haro knew that look. It was a cloak over sadness. When they noticed the two of them, Mae smiled at her son and sighed, "I guess we'll be here one more night, Haro. So I hope you stayed out of trouble?"

"Sure thing, Ama." He said with a dutiful nod before sitting down beside her.

Sharp steely gray settled into his uneasy thoughts. The image of that girl. She'd called him 'Half Hyuga'.

It wasn't a nice feeling, knowing that a stranger was capable of destroying his life with one little slip of information to the right person. At least the girl had been pretty. Sumoki Hatake...

Not a nice feeling at all...


	13. Chapter 13

_"You stay right there baby, Mama's coming!" Mae cried through a grunt as she hoisted her shaking limbs up over the first branch. Haro had once again shot up into the trees from the path below, that looked menacingly far away to Mae, now. He was a nimble little sucker. And she, as his mother, certainly wasn't. Between the heights and the lack of upper body strength, this was a nightmare, especially when spying him and his chubby baby legs waddle down the slender arm of a tree branch with a giggle._

 _He was only four years old! How was he able to do this?!_

 _Why did he have to take after his father, but be left in the care of his ill-equipped mother, just an earth bound average, with nothing physically outstanding to speak of._

 _Mae liked her feet planted firmly on the ground, but all these ninja types seemed to prefer the trees. Apparently the impulse ran so deep that it was even inherited by their offspring._ _Haro was her little mystic, and she, his incapable handler. It was as useless and impossible as herding cats!_

 _Haro scampered to the thin, wavering end of a branch and took a leap over to the next tree with a plea of snorting giggles. He'd glance back at his mommy like a bear cub in play, and shouted._

 _"Mama is slow! Silly Mama!"_

 _"Mommy IS slow, honey. Stop jumping and get down from there, Please!" Mae tried to reason with the gleeful little tyke, but to him this was just an excellent game. She glanced down at the ground from where she had clambered and felt a wave of panic set in. Her phobia of heights felt nearly immobilizing._

 _When she heard a crack, and shot her gaze back to Haro, she was horrified while watching the branch he'd held to snap and send him tumbling down the tree trunk. The sight of it sent adrenaline surging through her, but the energy had no capable outlet to exit from. Even though the toddler had quickly gathered his balance and grabbed a near by branch to steady himself, the shock of it had sent Mae scrambling right off her perch, and now_ _ **she**_ _was the one ping pong-ing all the way down to the unforgiving forest floor. Mae writhed in the dirt, sucking air, trying to regain her breath beneath at least one broken rib._

 _Haro leaped down beside her wearing a very scared expression._

 _"Ama you kay? Ama?"_

 _When Mae found her voice through the pain, an anger inspired by exasperated fear came out against her will._

 _"NO Haro! Ama is NOT OKAY! You can't do things like That! It's Not Safe! It Hurts Mommy!"_

 _Haro's wide, mismatched eyes began to water as his little lips started trembling._

 _He'd hurt his mommy..?_

 _The concept was so wounding to him. Mae hadn't meant to scar him, or make him feel guilty, but she was outside of her capable means. This gifted little boy would drive her to an early grave from stress and exhaustion at this rate, and though she'd never intended to divulge such a weight onto his innocent mind, she'd done it all the same.._

 _He never did it again._

 _Haro listened very carefully to his mother from that day forward._

 _And though she'd suffered greater falls in the hands of his father, something about this one was so much worse. If she were to lose her little boy..._

 _No. She would never lose him._

 _.._

Mae's thoughts found there way back to Hinata's island counter. She'd been thinking a lot about all the joy she'd disallowed her son from such a young age. To make friends and relationships. To feel freedom and live without her crippling fear hanging over their heads.

Hinata seemed to be picking up on the plight, suggesting Haro go with her children whenever they left the compound.

He'd wave goodbye with his cousins and head out into the village looking more alive than she'd ever seen him, but in the wake of his absence Mae would taint the air around her with anxiety, to which Hinata would say,

"Haro seems to have a very level temperament, Mae. Don't worry. He's not likely to draw attention to himself."

She was right. It wasn't likely. But it still burned. And besides, how would she know? Had she raised him?

Having him away from her care with the possibility of..of _what_? What would they even do if someone knew he was an unbranded Hyuga?

Mae had asked Hinata over tea that morning and her response was far from reassuring.

"I'm not exactly sure.." She said thoughtfully, her soft airy voice somehow abrasive to Mae's ears.

"It's a touchy situation. Having an unguarded Byakugan within a person who has no training to guard it themselves..that's dangerous for everyone.."

His Kekkei Genkai was like a low hanging fruit for those who wished to possess it for their own means. The concept rattled Mae to her very core, and yet Hinata sent him out with the others to play, like the possibility was both, inevitable and unavoidable. It was neither of those things. Mae had been succeeding at it for fifteen years until they'd come here..

Hinata could be quite undermining. He was Mae's son, after all. Not her own. Aunts seem to always be pesky, no matter how estranged or long lost they may be..

…

Hinata had asked her daughter and Haro to bring another bento box to the old Akihori, and upon entering his saggy little cottage, Haro was in shock to find the bag of bones cavorting about in extravagant manic, muttering nonsense at the top of his raspy lungs.

"See, I told you he's crazy.." Himawari said at normal volume, seeming confident that he could hear nothing below the decible of a blow horn.

"The outhouse Is busted!" The gangly old man croaked, once Himawari had made her presence known.

"What outhouse, you coot?" She shouted to him, while leading him back to his place before the fire. It appeared that he'd tossed a few more un-burnables into the hearth, for a stack of dish wear and an old phone book had extinguished the embers from the night before.

"The loud outhouse outside! It came alive!" The crazy old bird shrieked, seeming almost amused by it. He was wearing a livid expression, starring grumpily about with those milky eyes. Haro wondered what the blind saw. Surely it wasn't just darkness. Not based on the behavior he was witnessing now.

Haro glanced outside to search for an outhouse, but all that stood were the remains of the shed and the burned back up generator. Surely it was toast- _burnt toast_ , but perhaps it had tried to sputter back to life with the last of its energy and only served to ignite once more. But, if the old man had referred to it as an outhouse... Haro suddenly felt a bit sympathetic for whomever was sent to repair it.

Himawari giggled, catching on to Haro's thought as he starred out the window. She glanced down at the old mans feet to find them ashen and dirty.

" _Eeew_ Granadpa! You've been _pooping_ in the shed?! That's not an outhouse you crazy old fart!"

It wasn't exactly funny to Haro. This man was in serious need of help if his coherency came and went by the hour.

Haro grabbed a wash pail and a rag from the kitchen and knelt near the old mans chair to lift his feet into the bowl.

Hima helped to clean him up, and also aided in feeding him.

"Is that slug boy? Slug boy! Hello little slug man! How is your slug mother?" the old man rejoiced.

Haro felt a chill run down his spine. For some reason his comment had seemed eerily familiar, like he'd refered to his mother as if he could see her plain as day. Not to mention, Haro hadn't spoken since entering the cottage. How was the old man certain it was him? _And what was with the slug comments again!?_

"Hello, Aki Sama.." Haro muttered nervously.

"Did you salt your slugs like I told you to?! They can really ruin a garden you know. Gobble up all the food you need, take away all that delicous energy for survival.! Did you salt them?!"

"I.." Haro began, very confused and unsure of what to say, but Hima chimed in sharply, annoyed by his constant jibberish.

"Stop talking, you fossil! Hurry up and eat your dinner! We have to get back home!"

The old man chuckled like a hyena and took a mouthful of rice with shaking fingers.

"You go now.." The sprightly old fool tittered through a mouthful. "Konohagakure needs me at the gate tonight!" He declared, puffing out his sunken chest like a proud robin. "The woods are stirring you know!"

"You get em' Kusojiji..!" Himawari encouraged sarcastically as she drug Haro once again, out into the streets.

"Someone needs to get him out of there. Its dirty, and the air quality is bad." Haro exclaimed, turning to glance back at the ruddy little stain of a house that the old man called a home. "And 24 hour supervision wouldn't hurt either.."

Himawari shrugged, "Daddy says he burrows in there like a woodtick whenever anyone tries. Say's they can't get him out without the head popping off.."

Haro flinched at the imagery of her comment, but as they neared the school yard, shouting drew the pair over to the academy.

They rounded the building to find Boruto, and what looked like a set of triplets standing low, circling one another. Haro knew those eyes. They were Hyuga kids. Three boys about Boruto's age. Just as short, but stark white as ghosts compared to the Uzumaki's warm skin and bright hair.

"You're nothing but a bunch of Pussies!" Boruto shouted, "You said to meet you here, now come on Kishori! Don't just stand there!"

Haro assumed the boy who stepped forth was the one he'd addressed. A severe looking boy with the same long, smooth hair as his own.

"It's not worth it, Kishori.." One of the wiser of the brethren offered quietly, "We'll be in a lot of trouble if anyone finds out.."

"He's had this coming for a while." Kishori growled, raising his palms as he took a graceful stance before the devilish grin on Boruto's face.

The Hyuga made a sudden movement with his pale fingers and a striking sharpness took his eyes, sending the veins around his temples pulsing beneath the extreme focus his gaze suddenly upheld.

Himawari gasped and uttered, " _Juken_..!"

There was no time to ask what she meant. The Hyuga was fast and smooth as liquid, gliding his palms for Boruto's gut.

His friends stood by looking horrified, and Boruto himself, had a look of petrified bewilderment in his big blue eyes.

Haro lurched forward to cease their juvenile tussle, and once he'd gripped Kishori's hand in his palm, folding it into a fist inside his own, a tangible silence fell around them...

Haro didn't understand. Sure he'd probably surprised them, but Kishori and his friends, not excluding Boruto and Hima, were all looking up at him like he were some kind of Big Foot who'd come crashing out from the brambles.

A sound escaped Kishori that seemed like the beginnings of a question, but it never formed a single syllable.

Haro glanced around as he let the stunned fist of the boy fall idle to his side.

"...What?" He finally asked. No one seemed like they were about to answer, and Haro quickly found that it didn't matter, for two sharp hands dug their claws into his shoulders, hooking on his collarbones as he was torn up into the trees.

"Ow! What The-"

Haro glanced up to find a blur of silver, dragging him now by the wrist from tree branch to tree branch. _It had been some time since he'd ran like this._..

"How did you do that?!" Sumoki demanded, her eyes piercing ahead, calculating their destination as if she could already see it.

"What are you talking about!? And, what's your hurry!?"

"That gentle fist technique! You just absorbed it! Did you feel any pain? Are you even light headed?" She rambled on in disbelief.

"The only pain I'm feeling are those nails of yours digging into my wrist! Would you slow down!?"

She returned them to the forest floor, and he landed with her, their feet causing a soft thud atop the cushy blanket of leaves. She seemed to have forgotten to let go of him, her eyes holding his one eyed gaze from above her mask bearing an awed expression, until she glanced down and released him in a brief flurry.

"I've never seen anyone do that before..It's like it had no effect on you what so ever.."

"I still have no idea what your talking about?" Haro admitted, looking the girl up and down for an explanation.

"Gentle Fist.. The Hyuga Clan's signature jutsu..How do you know nothing about that..?" She asked, looking bewildered as she shook her head, trying to grasp his level of incompetence.

Haro was unsure of what to say at this point. After all he'd been kidnapped for stopping a fight. Playing peacemaker wasn't usually an act met with abduction..well. Haro took a brief internal glance into human history, and shrugged.

Sumoki suddenly shifted her hands before her chin while taking a menacing stance. Her eyes cultivated a sharp intensity as she declared,

 _"Chisana hato no Justsu..!"_

She thrust her closed palm into his shoulder and it gave him a nudge before he went writhing into the dirt.

"What the Hell was That?!" Haro growled, rubbing his aching chest. It had felt like a heart attack.

"Fascinating..." Sumoki whispered. "It only works with Gentle Fist technique...But there's only one way to be sure.." She continued to stare until an idea colored her eyes. She snatched his hand and tore him back up into the trees.

"Hey, Wait!" Haro shouted, but to no avail. This girl was on a mission, and he was willing to wager that it strongly involved him in some way. Haro hoped that whatever her epiphany entailed, that it didn't involve being utilized as a punching bag.


	14. Chapter 14

Sumoki had lead Haro to a training field near the edge of the village. Dusk was nearing, and images of his mother in the height of a rant sent a shiver down his spine. She could be pretty scary when she was mad enough. It was something he usually tried to avoid, but given his current state of captivity, the impending ass whooping she was sure to deliver seemed like an unavoidable fate.

There were two people in the training field below. One, seeming too large to be a human at all. The other, small, pale, and ominously still.

Sumoki snatched Haro by the elbow, and took a long leap down from the tree tops to land with a thud, on the grass. She was so excited to share what she'd found, that on their way there, Sumoki had failed to notice a presence following them through the trees..

"Gakuto-Sensai!" Sumoki addressed the bear of a man before them. He had a rough five o' clock shadow and a deep set gaze, dark circles staining his under eyes like charcoal smudges. His hair was shaggy long chestnut, and he wore it pushed back by his headband.

"Who's this twerp." He grumbled, his baritone sending a shiver down Haro's spine.

"This is Haro. He's the third we've been searching for! With a bit of training I know we'll be able to qualify for the exam this year!" Sumoki declared, thrusting a fist at her Sensai with gusto.

"He's not an academy Grad.." The man scrutinized, looking the boy up and down as if he weren't capable of speaking for himself. "I don't recognize him. Who the hell is he?"

Haro was glancing back and forth between the Sensai and their other team member, a young Hyuga boy, about his age.

Another one.

 _A baby boom indeed._

"I-I'm not from this village, Sir. And not to disappoint, but I'm just passing through-"

Sumoki tried to cut Haro off by speaking over him, choosing to disregard him entirely.

"He's got a pretty freaky talent, Gakuto Sensai. He's totally incompetent so don't listen to a word he says. Just watch this.."

Sumoki prepped her fingers with a flurry of hand signs before muttering another command.

Haro's instinct to dodge wasn't faster than his instinct to yell.

"Whoa, Hey! Just Wait A Minute!"

She landed a blow that pushed him back into the dust, clutching his throbbing shoulder from the cardiovascular episode she'd, once again, shared with him.

Gakuto Sensai raised a brow, and muttered, "What's so freaky about a fumbling dud..?"

"Hakaru, Now attack him with Gentle Fist!" Sumoki demanded, gesturing to the helpless Haro, who was now wearing a perplexed and irritated frown as he glanced up at the Hyuga.

Hakaru looked to his teacher with a furrowed expression. They were growing increasingly concerned for the mental well being of their female comrade. She'd been through quite a lot over the past few months. It wouldn't be at all surprising to find her more than a bit unraveled..

"Sumoki, I think you're having a tough time with-"

"Don't you _Dare_ say it!" She snarled at Hakaru before he could utter another word. "Just hit him! Trust Me!"

After noting her blatant enthusiasm for beating him up, not to mention encouraging others to do the same, Haro concluded that she wasn't as pretty as she used to be. Those crazy multiple personalities he'd assumed from earlier, seemed to be surfacing now, and needless to say, he wasn't much of a fan.

"Sumoki, I really don't-"

"Shut up and do it, Hakaru! You _have_ to trust me!"

They shared a meaningful look before he approached Haro with a sigh.

"Sorry, dude." Hakaru shrugged before summoning his Byakugan and weaving a gesture headed straight for him.

With just one eye in use, he found his depth perception to be a bit off, but Haro scrambled to his feet and dodged the first blow. Then a second. He was quite surprised with himself. He was moving pretty quickly now that he had a handle on the situation. But, his own self-gratification tore his attention away from the onslaught, and before he knew it, Hakaru's index finger had made contact with his collarbone. He must have missed or something, Haro assumed, as he took a quick step back, bouncing on the balls of his feet, waiting for him to charge again. But, when the three of them stood stiff as stone, Haro lowered his hands.

"...What?!" He growled for the second time that day, feeling frustrated by the recurrent and still very unanswered phenomenon that he seemed to be entirely missing.

…

Mae had been pacing around Hinata's island counter while the Uzumaki family sat down to eat. The Hokage had actually managed to make it to dinner, though, just barely.

He appeared to be deep in thought, sitting despondently before his untouched plate of food. Hinata was trying to gently extract information from her husband, but Mae wished they'd all just shut the hell up so she could think. None of them seemed at all bothered by Haro's absence, even though the sun was going down, and Hinata's children had fidgeted beneath the question of his whereabouts.

Haro was never late. _Never._ Something had to be wrong.

"I should go look for him.." Mae uttered nervously once more, her mantra sounding increasingly unsure with every passing second.

"Relax Mae, he just made some friends, right Boruto?" Hinata clarified with her son, again.

The young blond swallowed a stubborn mouthful as a faint blush colored his cheeks. Himawari began to shovel down her food like it was a timed event while Boruto offered the same explanation as he had before. "Yeah, he's just hanging out with some academy kids.."

Before Mae could cross the room to pin the little liar to his chair and extract the hidden truth with the sheer destruction of a mothers scorn, the knob to the door began to twist, and in walked Haro, wearing a guilty half smile.

"Haro! Where in the _Hell_ have You Been?!"

"Woah, Ama. It's okay, I was just-"

"Just out after dinner without a single word as to where you were, or with whom! It's almost eight O' clock! When you didn't come home with Himawari and Boruto-"

"Ma, It's seriously okay. I was just talking with some new friends." Haro reasoned, sounding innocent, though internally he was cringing beneath the thought of having friends like the ones he'd encountered today.

Boruto was chanting" I told you so" while Hinata nodded in agreeable fashion, as if Mae had been crazy the entire time, just like always..

Mae was certain she were on the verge of a mental breakdown. She could feel the grand finale of disregarded emotions ignite as the fuses shrank down to nothing, and then..

"Enough Of This Shit! All Of You!" Mae bellowed with a growl that silenced the room. Haro jumped, and Himawari dropped her chopsticks, sending them tumbling to the floor in a soft clatter.

"Every Single One Of You Keeps Pretending That There's No Danger For Us, Here! Like Haro Can Just Run Around and Do Whatever the Hell He Wants To Do! Well I Hate To Break It To You Kiddo, But That's Just Not the Fucking Case!" Mae snatched the bandage from his face and the ghostly hue of that eye bore into her angry glare.

"You don't bare the Brand, HinataSama.. You know exactly why you don't.."

Mae's words were cutting as she turned to face the wife of the Kage.

Hinata looked down at her dinner, unable to hold Mae's gaze as Naruto stiffened in his chair, debating on whether or not to step in.

"And yet you encourage him to gallivant around town, swimming in a sea of Clan members who wouldn't hesitate to muddy his face for "the greater good" knowing damn well that his lineage wont spare him, regardless of how renowned his father may have been. Neji was a Branch member, and Branch members exist to bear the seal and protect the Main, so that _You_ Don't Have To! We'll, I don't give a _Fuck_ about the greater good, and that's exactly why I'm not dead just like his father!" Her voice lowed as the weight of her words settled around the kitchen.

"All I care about is my family. And, I Will Be Damned if I see My Only Son Die Protecting Someone too Weak and Selfish to Bare Their Own Burden.."

A heavy silence clung to the air, buzzing with static just as it had on the night of the black out. Somehow, the electricity in the atmosphere was so much stronger, now..

"We'll be leaving tomorrow, Lord Hokage. I thank both of you for your generous hospitality." Mae offered coldly as she turned her back and disappeared into their guest room.

...

 _"There are preliminary tests you can take! You seem like a smart kid. If you study enough you can rise through the ranks and get placed on our team! We need you, Haro! Especially with that weird ability of yours! Do you know how many Hyuga are competing this year! Without you we're screwed!"_

 _"Sorry, You'll just have to find someone else. I told you I can't help you." Haro said flatly, for the hundredth time. She'd been trying to sell the idea of joining their team his entire walk back to the Hokage compound._

 _"But, what about your Dad..?"_

Haro couldn't sleep. Not after seeing his mother like that. She apparently knew a lot more about the Hyuga Clan than she previously let on, and all the new information really set straight a lot of unanswered questions, and certainly justified the fear she'd carried over the years.

She was across the room on her mat, her back to him, breathing steadily, though he was willing to bet that she wasn't sleeping, either.

Sumoki's proposition was on his mind as well. How could it not be? That one particular question ringing over and over..

 _"But, What about your Dad..?"_

What about him? It didn't matter what his dad had done in his life time. He shared nothing in common with the man, as far as he knew, and even if he did, what difference would it make? He wasn't trying to follow in his footsteps. The Byakugan in his head was a burden, not a blessing. It only served to complicate his life and completely destroy his mothers nerves..

Sumoki had called it a _Freak_ _talent_. As if it weren't of the norm, but nothing they they did on a regular basis was normal to him. And it never would be. And yet, even with all of that a present fact in his mind, a small voice inside of him wanted to know. At his core, perhaps a small part of him wanted to take hold of that river within. To feel it. To see it. To look through the eye of Kaguya just once..

But, none of that mattered. By morning they'd be back to the roads they knew too well.

Mae never liked to stay in one place.

It was for his protection, but Haro wondered if it also had anything to do with the nature of her first love. They'd spent four days of traveling together. Maybe keeping on her toes, just maybe, helped her stay ahead of her loneliness. In fact, it seemed like she'd never stopped walking, even after she found that they'd put him in the ground..

…

They had shared their awkward goodbyes. Mostly just Haro speaking for his mother, who stood a little ways down the road with her forearms clasped tightly over her chest, wearing an agitated frown.

Hinata seemed to be holding in her tears, doing quite a horrendous job at it. For her it was like saying goodbye to Neji all over again.

He still looked just like him, after all.

Himawari had hugged him numerous times, her brother having to pry her from his pant legs.

"Please, come back soon to visit, okay!" She plead, her high pitched wail making his ears ring a bit. Haro smiled and gave her a nod, not wanting to give the little girl what might have been an empty promise.

Haro wasn't certain his mother would ever let them come back here.

..

At least it was a beautiful day. The sun was high, dodging lazily in and out of high, fluffy, white clouds. Haro wasn't usually a negative boy, and even now, with his chest aching, he managed to retain a positive smile against all odds.

Mae wasn't smiling.

She was stealing glances at her miraculous son who was walking beside her down the road, just as always, but this time looking so different than he ever had. He had his sunglasses on. His high pony tail was messy and wild, a deep blackish brown, nearly as dark as wet earth, even beneath the sunlight.

He was so pale. It was a wonder that he never burned.

It was here, that Mae found herself once more acknowledging every mistake she'd ever made. She was a terrible mother. She didn't deserve this resilient, good hearted boy who didn't posses a single wicked bone in his body. He was so fearless and accepting and so entirely tranquil. The kind of Nirvana-esk mannerisms that monks could meditate their whole lives for, but never achieve.

He didn't deserve this life of solitude that she had built for him to wander in.

Images of a Brand glowing in and out of hazy steam. A weighted tone, a bitter joke, almost..

Another image, a worse image. Haro, in the dirt, his miracle missing, leaving nothing but a bloody eye-socket behind, beside the useless crimson iris she'd given him. Maybe it wasn't the Byakugan that was the curse. Maybe it was her own inabilities that Branded him. Forced him to be less than what he was..

Mae stifled a choking sob and reached around to dig in her pack. Haro glanced at her, still wearing a soft smile.

"Here...You didn't think I'd forget this time, did you..?" She said jaggedly. Haro could hear her fighting a lump in her throat. It made his chest ache a lot more than it had.

Mae held out a paper-wrapped rectangular package. Haro knew what it was and gave his mother a warmer grin. He tore it open and found himself halted on the path, shocked once he'd read the books cover.

 _Hogoromo's Gift: A History of Jutsu, A Legacy of Power_

"Ama..It's..Thank you.." Haro stammered, warmth filling his belly as he looked up to meet her gaze.

"I know I'm not always the best at nourishing your aspirations Haro..In fact most times I'm down right horrible about it..I just..You know I can't..I.."

"Mom. It's okay.."

"I'm just afraid, Haro...I don't want to lose you.."

He smiled, taking his mom into a hug. She felt small, like a kid herself. She looked much younger than 31, but seemed too frail to be her age.

"This is the best book yet, Ama." He declared into her shoulder, her ashy brown locks about his face smelling comfortably familiar. Like lemon grass.

She was about to respond with a laugh when her son seemed to go stiff in her arms. Haro turned to dead weight, and went limp at her feet. She fell with him, shouting his name as her heart sped out of control, chipping away at her chest plate.

"Haro! **Haro**! What's Going On!"

His eyes were back in his head, his jaw slack and hanging.

This was worse. This was worse. This was so much worse.

She clung to his shoulders trying to cradel him back to life. " **Haro!** "

A sharp throb reverberated down Mae's spine as something blunt struck the back of her head. The world spun into a bleary fog, and through it she saw long hair. Three of them. Tall, mountains of that long, long dusky hair. White, pale skin. They took her little boy away, that red eye back in his head. Gone. She couldn't see it. She couldn't find him, as the world went away..

 _"Thank the Gods, Neji's not alive to see the mutt he left to a pitiful whore..Take him back to the compound. Leave her. It seems she'll die soon anyway.."_


	15. Chapter 15

Thum, thum, thum, time thrums away like a heart beat. There is no realm or plane that remains untouched by it.

He was older. He could tell it by his hands. No way of telling just how much.

He could have counted the embers. The crackling hearth flickering monotonously through out this unyielding expanse.

He could have counted breaths. Breaths he didn't need. How does time age a collection of useless bones stuffed into dirt somewhere far from here?

Fossils?

Dust?

Nothing?

Nothing of use, anymore, surely.

Darkness, and this fire. It was all he knew. All he would ever know, now.

It was lonely, probably. He wasn't sure he had the sense to recognize that feeling.

There was no way back, or forward. Gears, gravity, and something intangible were turning the world in ways that didn't take heed of a memory like himself.

And it didn't matter. Whatever had drawn him here to be snagged like a piece of debris had done what it had done. There was no use trying to decipher it. If time was his charge, then time he would pay.

There was no other choice.

Like so many things in life, there was no other choice.

And if there was, he couldn't see it.

Thum, thum, thum.

Time. It thrums away like a heart beat.

If only that itch would leave him be. Between his shoulder blades, taunting him, as if knowing that it was just outside his reach.


	16. Chapter 16

The earth was cold and solid beneath her aching frame, but the pain didn't keep Mae from pulling herself from the road and sprinting into the village.

She was certain that she'd recognized the figures who had taken Haro.

She was vaguely aware of the location of the compound that lay nestled into a small wood near a quiet corner of the village.

Judging by the suns location in the sky she hadn't been passed out long. A few hours or so. She reached around to feel the back of her head as she stumbled, but there was nothing discernible to the touch, just a raw ache that flared beneath the graze of her fingers.

She was nearly there. The streets were emptying and all that she could hear besides her own racing heart was the numbing hum of cicadas in the trees.

Her lungs were burning, and the world ducked in and out of view beneath the black in the corners of her eyes, but she didn't stop running.

That was, until her heart gave out as her gaze fell upon her son, dragging himself down the road looking disoriented and rough.

"Haro!" Mae cried through a painful catch in her throat as she threw herself toward him. They reached one another and fell to their knees within each others embrace. He was starring down at the ground, breathing sharp, jagged breaths, and his clothes were warm and clammy, clinging to his feverish skin.

"What Happened?!" Mae demanded.

Haro didn't speak, though odd muscle spasms were reverberating down his arms and legs giving the impression of a glitching machine.

"Haro?!" she demanded once more as Mae took him by his shoulders to study him. It was as though he couldn't lift his head at all. She took him by the chin and tilted his face to her own, and the revelation she'd discovered, an image that had haunted her from the moment of his birth to the second before this one, was stained into her memory forever.

An angry ribbon of turquoise symbols had been carved into his brow, burning red at its edges as if each marking had been singed into his flesh. Beneath it, his fathers eye was piercing, holding a complex flurry of expressions, none of which her son had ever held before. He was studying her as though he could see things the rest of this world could not. The veins around the omnipotent white were pulsing and flexing as he memorized her face.

Mae was motionless until a sob broke through as she wrapped her arms around him.

He would never be the same again. He would never be that same little boy she'd raised, and she would be reminded to it every time she looked at him...every time she looked at that cursed seal.

He wasn't hers anymore...

 ** _No._**

Mae pulled Haro to his feet and lead him toward the hospital.

This was no time for indulging in pain, or loss. Not yet. Mae would grieve. But, not until the ones responsible lay bloodied in her hands...

...

"You bare a gift that is not rightfully yours. Neji was a fool to conceive such a _mistake_ with a woman like your mother. That being said...You should count yourself lucky that I'm even presenting you with a choice." Hiashi Hyuga sat cross legged on the floor, his robes pooling around him in a layered mound of gray. The other five members of the Clan Council filled the room and lined the walls, studying the half-ling who was thrown into the center wearing a fanged glare.

"Where is she!" Haro growled for the third time. Not a one of the men in the room would tell him what they'd done with his mother.

"Decide, or I will decide for you." Hiashi reminded with an ominous gaze.

Haro didn't know what to do. Would they really take his eye? Just scoop it out of his head? And what exactly was the seal? Ama had made it seem quite menacing, but after seeing so many Hyuga kids running around, could it really be so bad? None of it mattered anyway. The longer he was detained here the longer his mother's whereabouts would remain unknown to him.

"The seal." Haro declared with angry impatience. Surely it couldn't take any longer or be any worse than having a part of ones anatomy forcibly removed.

Hiashi gave one single nod. Just one. A scroll was ushered forth and with the flick of his wrist it unraveled before them.

It was names. A list of names, scrolling on and on, endlessly down the paper. An old man waddled toward Haro and knelt beside him, and to his surprise, the man drew a kuni and snatched Haro's plam. He pricked him once, pausing as the blood pooled on the tip of his thumb.

"What are you doing!?" Haro inquired as a churning in his gut began to make him uneasy.

Had he made the wrong choice? A contract in blood. That seemed more binding than simply living with one eye. Before he could voice his qualms aloud the old man thrust his finger to the page and the blood that stained its waxy surface began to coil into the letters of his name.

 _Haro Hyuga_

Seeing it like that was quite a trip. _Hyuga_. For all intents and purposes, the last name meant nothing, but seeing it on the page felt rather finalizing. His eyes scanned the list and a few feet above his own signature he spotted another name he knew well, but he'd never seen written down. _Neji Hyuga_. A small shudder found its way down Haro's spine. He'd made a mistake. A terrible, terrible mistake.

"You're father was a renowned and talent Shinobi with a spotless reputation. Do him justice in death by choosing not to besmirch him with your existence. You are an embarrassment to his name. You will bare this seal, and if you are wise, you will take no claim to his lineage. This secret remains within these walls. And should you find yourself inspired to share this scandal, have this brand be a reminder to you..."

Hiashi wove a series of hand signs and whispered something intangible, and like a crushing electrical current digging into his skull, it began. He felt his pupils flex so taught that he was certain something inside them had snapped. His jaw clenched shut, and shrill ringing obliterated his ear drums, so deafening that he could scarcely register the noise beyond it...

Haro was screaming.

He could barely make out the sound of his own cries through the violent buzz that flared into his every nerve, and synapse. He thought he felt the cool hardwood floor beneath his writhing body, but it was difficult to say he could feel anything aside from this agonizing persecution.

After what felt like hours of torture they tossed him outside the compound. He lay there a while, twitching in the dirt, unable to command his muscles to do anything but spasm.

He felt numb, and deaf, but if there was one thing that he certainly was not, it was blind.

Haro could see _everything_.

There were circulatory systems in the trees above him that swayed in the evening breeze. They twinkled like streams of emerald, tangled like cobwebs dusted in morning precipitation. The bark and leaves, and all that was usually familiar to him appeared to have lost some of its color, standing translucently against the sky, barely a shadow outlining its edges.

When he'd managed to lift himself up onto weak and nearly useless legs he found that he couldn't raise his head at all. He looked sideways from his chest and in the houses he passed he found bodies within, carrying out the afternoon to-do's, seeming completely unaware of him spying through their walls, even right through their flesh.

So many colors, but yet so similar. A mother and her child sat at a table, appearing to Haro like squiggled lines and pulsing veins. Both blue, one less than blue. He kept on down the road, and into every house he saw people within, getting ready for dinner. More veins, more rivers of energy, each one unique and yet the same.

He needed to find his mother, if only he could lift his head...

Haro was a bit astounded to find his vision suddenly coloring pictures in his mind. His eyes bore into the dirt, but the people in those houses were still visible to him, oblivious from behind the safety of their walls. He didn't have to turn his gaze to actually see it in his mind.

 _What the Hell Was This...?_

A faint color appeared, approximately 50 yards ahead, seeming to stumble almost as much as he himself was. Even as it approached it's odd color didn't change like the others. It never regained any vibrancy. Just a low and lulling red.

"Haro!"

He recognized her voice. She didn't look good. He collapsed into his mothers arms, glaring into her body with so many questions. Why was she so different from the others? It didn't seem right. She looked weak and nearly invisible. He could barely see her through the bleary pain, and the new field of vision. He could tell that it would take some time to focus this new sight. For now, it was more than just frustrating. He needed to see her, to make sure she was alright. If he could just lift his damn head..!

Mae held his chin to study his face, and Haro thought that maybe he'd caught a glimpse of a tear as it escaped down her cheek. She lifted him up off the road without a word, holding to his shoulders so tightly. He could feel her purpose in her clutch. He could feel her fear, her anger, her failure...

She hadn't failed him, though. It wasn't her fault. It was his choice. She needed to know that.

 _"I'm okay_..." Haro tried to say, but it came out like a raspy little groan of gibberish that only served to make his mother cry angry tears. She didn't make a sound, but they tumbled down her clenched jaw before seeping into the hem of her dress all caked in dusty gravel.

 _"I'm okay._." He tried again, anything to get her to stop crying, but it didn't work. It was still a dry whisper of nothing. He'd tell her later, after he had the chance to ask someone why the lights inside his mother appeared to be dwindling into nothing.


	17. Chapter 17

"Whoa...that looks pretty sinister..." Hakaru awed as he studied the tinted veins zigzagging up and down Haro's neck. Haro was wearing a bandage over his eye, and a new one around his forehead as he lay propped on pillows in a hospital bed.

Sumoki had brought Hakaru to visit, and it appeared as though she had kept her promise, for Hakaru seemed non the wiser toward Haro's hidden Byakugan. It was hard to say whether or not she'd figured out the new forehead bandage though...with her quick wit and her shameless curiosity it was a sure bet she probably knew, but her lack of sympathy made her extremely hard to read.

Sumoki had, as usual, been rooting in everyones business earlier that day, and after lurking around the Hokage compound searching for clues as to whether or not Haro had skipped town, she'd stumbled upon a suspicious confrontation. A woman, whom she presumed to be Haro's mom, had cornered the Hokage's wife in the garden outside the estate, looking vexed and nearly trembling with a sort of quiet rage. She looked like she wanted to, but the woman hadn't screamed or shouted or made a scene at all, aside from the livid expression on her tired face. In fact she'd spoken so quietly that Sumoki had to lean in and cock her head from the tree she'd perched herself in. She couldn't make it all out, just bits and pieces. _Haro, Hospital, Hinata's tears and a look of pure anguish sprinkled with regret-_ either way! Sumoki had pieced the puzzle together fairly quickly, and gathered Hakaru to pay a visit to the boy whom she still considered to be their newest member of team Gakuto.

"Sakooah OohEha seh tha ish lye ah stwoke oh somfing..." Haro explained through his useless mouth. Half of his face had been paralyzed by the nerve damage, and it made it nearly impossible to understand a word he said. Sumoki erupted into a giggling fit as Hakaru shoved her in the ribs with his elbow.

"I hardly think this is a laughing matter," Hakaru scolded. "The poor kid looks maimed for life."

"Nonsense." A womans voice declared from the doorway. Sakura Uchiha stepped into the room wearing a bright and optimistic smile. The sight of it colored the boy's cheeks her same shade of bubblegum pink.

The woman had a flock of interns at her heels who stood scribbling down her every word, and even the breaths between. After shooing the students down the hall she turned with another warm grin.

"After a few more sessions with me you'll be good as new. Most of the damage was caused by over stimulation, and it may seem pretty gruesome, but it's all superficial with the right tools." She explained as she laced her fingers and gave them a good stretch before pulling up a chair to Haro's hospital bed.

Her palms began to glow a soothing teal as they wove around his trapezius muscles up into the grooves of his neck. Hakaru made a weird coughing noise that only served to deepen the blush that was still tingeing Haro's face. Sumoki was having a tough time retaining her composure as well, and Hakaru gave her a second jab in a futile attempt to mute her.

"I'm sorry!" She howled, hugging herself as happy tears welled in her eyes. "He just looks so stupid!"

It was true. He looked pretty bad. Aside from the jagged crimson veins that puzzled over his upper body, the paralysis had made the left side of his face hang limp and expressionless. Unfortunately, the left side of his face was also the side with Mae's eye. His only visible eye, and the damage hadn't spared him the ability to maneuver it properly.

"Shouldn't the two of you be with Gakuto Sensai about now? I'm sure your dad would be thrilled to know your skipping your lessons, Momo-chan...", Sakura teased.

Sumoki flushed a shade of red that stood out almost neon against her fair skin and ash-white hair.

Haro let out a grunt of a laugh and said, "Yah OhMo Kah, Dohn beh lay fo kass."

Now it was Hakaru who couldn't stop laughing.

 _"I hate that nick name..."_ Sumoki hissed as she stomped Hakaru out of the room.

"So...you're hiding your Byakugan..?" Sakura inquired with a sly grin after the two genin had closed the door.

Haro stiffened, trying to muster a response that would sound correct from his fumbling tongue.

Sakura paused to lean toward his gaze so he could see her. She smelled like spring. Cherry blossoms, and clean air, and that warm smell that good mothers always seemed to have.

"Whatever your reason, I wont tell anyone about it...Your Clan can be pretty unforgiving...especially lately. What with all the new members, it seems like the councils stretched pretty thin...whatever you did, I know you didn't deserve this..." She asserted with a sympathetic smile that barely touched her sad eyes.

Haro tried to smile back but only one side of his mouth twitched. It made her face brighten as she set back to work, weaving her energy into his tissue.

"Your sister. She seemed really worried about you. You know, you don't see many half Hyuga. Actually, I don't think I've ever seen any aside from Naru-kun's family." Sakura went on thinking out loud. It took Haro a moment to realize that the sister she had referred to was his mother.

Haro was content to let her sit with her assumption for now, and was suddenly thankful for his broken mouth.

 _"You are an embarrassment to his name. You will bare this seal, and if you are wise, you will take no claim to his lineage. This secret remains within these walls. And should you find yourself inspired to share this scandal, have this brand be a reminder to you..."_

Hiashi's words still rang out in Haro's ears. He would do everything he could to remain an anonymous bastard, and by keeping his Byakugan covered, that would only help him to do so. He never wanted to feel such agony ever again. Next time it might kill him. Or worse, they could hurt his mother. Thinking of her brought a question to mind.

"Saakooah...Maee. I fink shee es sik."

Sakura furrowed her brow and giggled. "Hang on. I'm almost done."

She dispersed a very concentrated amount of pluming chakra that seeped below his skin, and almost as quickly as its cooling tingle wove about his tendons, his ability to speak had become much better.

"There. Now what were you saying?"

Haro sighed a thankful sigh as the sedative chakra mended into his own before he spoke.

"It's...Mae. Did you notice anything strange about her? I think she's sick..?"

…

"It's not the Hokage's place to delve into Clan affairs." Shikamaru, Naruto's assistant, explained.

Naruto sat darkly in his chair behind the large oak desk in his office. His arms were crossed over his chest and a deep frown had stuck itself between his whiskers.

Mae stood rigidly before them beside a forlorn looking Hinata. The scorned mother was struggling to maintain a sense of composure, and she could feel it coming apart around the anger growing within.

"I know it seems very unlawful, but Hiashi didn't violate any village laws. The Huyga Kekkei Genkai is his responsibility to protect and he followed their protocol by placing the seal on Haro...the rest might have been overkill but-"

"Overkill!?" Mae erupted, losing her nerve as she lunged toward the assistant who took a step back in a defensive way. "Go Look At My Son! Go Look At Him And Tell Me That's Just Protocol!"

Naruto finally broke his silence and after a swift and heavy glance at his wife he locked eyes with Mae.

"I've been searching ways to go about changing the Clan's Junjutsu ever since I was inaugurated...It's just as difficult as I had imagined it would be, if not more so now that the Clan has tripled in size. A lot of the Clan members don't even live inside the compound anymore because there's just no room...With that many people, with that many Doujutsu to protect, it's practically impossible to even present the idea of banishing the Seal practice..."

Like a punch to the gut, the air left Mae's lungs and wouldn't return. She closed her eyes and swallowed a knot in her throat before she spoke again.

"So there will be no justice for my son..?"

The room was silent.

Mae opened her eyes and caught Hinata's gaze. She glared into her, hoping to slice away any feeling of comfort that the ex heiress may have been clinging to.

"I pray that your daughter never suffers the same fate..."

And with that Mae left the room, leaving in her wake a heavy, and tangible silence.

..

She wandered in the direction of the Leaf Hospital in an angry daze, but she found her footsteps leading her toward the memorial grounds, first. She had a bone to pick with the man who'd put her in this situation, and he deserved to sit through a good tirade.

She knelt before Neji's grave unable to look up from the grass and see his name there in the stone. It was a bright and beautiful afternoon. All wrong in contrast to the last few days she'd had. There were no clear resolutions for her to test. Her options seemed useless, and her usual solution to everything, running away, had failed her son.

She had failed her son.

Though she would find no comfort, nor answers here, still, she sat alone in the grass.

"You're an idiot..." She grumbled. "I don't know why everyone says your such a genius...If you were, you'd still be here..."

Her words were so bitter, but gentle all at once as they clawed away at the scabs around her heart. Mae didn't really want to hurt Neji's feelings or belittle him, but there was always the small possibility that insulting his memory might draw him from the grave just long enough to deliver some irritating one liner to make her twice as angry.

Nothing but silence followed. Silence and the distant hum of cicadas in the forest beyond the gate.

"You should have been there you know...even if we weren't anything to one another...he's still your son, and...I don't..."

Tears disappeared into the grass at her knees as her hands began to shake. She wiped them away but they just kept coming.

"I don't know what to do..." She sobbed, brushing away another bleary wave with the sleeve of her dress so that she could read his headstone.

Mae's heart stopped and she suddenly found her breath. A small cicada shell had caught her eye from where it sat atop his memorial stone, just above his name. It was strange sitting there all alone so far from the woods. Something about it looked so devious, and purposeful.

 _It was gross._ Mae dried her tears. She could see him plain as day in her head, standing below that god-like tree, millions of the icky little casings coating its entire trunk. Just the thought of it gave her a shudder.

He'd thrown them in her hair..

"You ass..." Mae whispered to him through a faint and bitter smile.

…

In just four days time, Haro had made a full recovery. After watching his new friends and cousins visit every day, and witnessing their playful banter, Mae could feel an answer forcing itself upon her. She tried to ignore it, but like some sickening turn of fate, Hinata had taken it upon herself to offer Mae money to pay for a place of their own.

Mae was disgusted by the proposition. She had turned her down with an icy glare and some bratty remark, but she and Haro had barely made it through the gate before the small death in her sons eyes had forced her to steer him back to the Hokage estate to concede.

Why run now when there was nothing left to run from? The worst had already happened, as far as Mae could tell.

She took Hinata's money without a thank you, and made it very clear that it was a mere loan that would be paid in full. Her tongue had wanted to add interest to the dept but she'd managed to swallow her manic ego just in time. Besides, the gesture wasn't nearly enough to make up for what Hinata's father had done. _Mea would take her time exacting her own revenge._

Even so, Haro was more than thrilled to stay. In fact the only ones more thrilled may have been his new friends, particularly, the girl called Sumoki. She seemed to take a keen interest in him, and she was quite pretty too...

Mae was still very uncertain, though.

Fifteen long years on the road had made her quite the outdoor cat. How would she fare with carpet beneath her claws? It would feel all wrong for her. But, she could see the happiness in Haro, and that was enough.

Haro felt free, and even if he wasn't, for now, it felt like enough.


	18. Chapter 18

_They had burrowed into the earth through a break in tectonic plates. Two massive shoulder blades of sediment forced together with a groove down its center so deep and unending. A terrible place, wet and dark and empty. But, Hejime had known worse places..._

 _A lonely chorus of drips echoed through cathedrals of folded stone, and then got lost in cramped and winding tunnels that wove in and out of stale, waterlogged passageways. His lantern light revealed a maze of stalagmite spires reaching up to the ceiling that extended gangling arms down in return. The cavern was like the mouth of a viscous deep water fish. Jagged teeth, chilly stone scales, and slick wet gills. None of which had ever seen the sunlight._

 _The scroll had been there, buried for centuries, calcified into the cold brine of the cave. Lost, forgotten, but never retired. It was always growing. It would never stop growing. Not until all beings conscious of time ceased to remain to document its passing._

 _It looked small. Water stained paper coiled around an onyx roller, its cylinder ends rather plain for something so horrid, he had thought. But, when she'd lifted it into her palms to study it, the cavern had started telling things. Little whispers and breaths that ran along the stone walls, disturbing the heavy silence just as the water droplets that rippled on the surface of pools counted away seconds like a clock._

 _For the first time Hejime had been afraid._

 _The wax seal was a deep and fleshy purple bearing the imprint of a melting candle stick, its wick running thin._

 _She had peeled it from the paper like a scab and placed it on her tongue, and just as she'd commenced to unwind the ancient pages, the earth had begun to quake. The motionless waters began to tremble and buzz as the walls pressed their hard skins together. Hejime had dropped his lantern into a pool of inky water as the ground threw him down, but the light had no longer held purpose, for she had begun to glow so brightly that Hejime had to close his eyes and bury his face in his hands. A wind went howling through the cavern so fiercely that he had been certain the stalactite ceiling would fall in and pierce them dead._

 _She had stood without fear, her white robes swirling around her in the ferocious tide of air._

 _And then, like a rip through time, that light had left her and ruptured through the stone above. It shattered the crevasse into rubble as the flash of light imploded like a tide, then blew out, expanding on forever. A bellow shook the earth, one fitting of a decree such as the one she had made._

 _When the winds lowed and the darkness returned, the moonlight had revealed the wreckage. Hejime had found himself crouching within a crater, the flesh of the world blown out around him. Nearby woods had been flattened and left bare. The contract had given a permanent scar._

 _He found her standing alone in the aftermath, her kimono, then unraveled by the chaos, was barely clinging to her shoulders. Her sleek, charcoal hair had covered her pale chest._

 _The scroll was in her hand, sealed tightly. Hejime hoped that it would not cause such a fuss the next time she called upon it._

 _She had looked so vacant. So still and blank._

 _He had known that there would be a cost. He also knew that she was never one to argue them. She knew exactly what she wanted. She had always known, and she had sacrificed a great many things to bring about her desires. Though, seeing her standing there in the flattened pit, gray dead iris's, and nothing but a blank groove of flesh where her lips had been. That wax seal now enclosed within her until her death. He had found it hard to believe that anything could be worth what she had lost._

...

Nearly a month had passed since they had found the scroll. When she had opened it, it had destroyed almost all forms of synthetic energy as if it had been some kind of electromagnetic pulse. It rendered the countries into a near total darkness. A darkness that suited the task at hand, for the Shinigami Scroll knew exactly what needed to be done.

Kuchisake-Onna

That was the name on every villagers tongue. It wasn't a wonder they'd draw such conclusions. The resemblance to the old ghost story that his regent now held was striking to say the very least. Hejime still found it unfitting to compare her to something so callow. She was much too real, and much more terrifying than any wives tale ever spun.

Grimm. That was her name. Hejime knew her as such. The only name to suit her reputation. For every village they passed through, death would pass through as well.

She hadn't always been this way. Or perhaps she had. After so long in her company it was hard for Hejime to tell. She certainly didn't look like herself, but how could she? Curses are a heavy thing. This particular one, very much self inflicted, was heinous in its right. Her steely eyes, once bright blue and swimming, were clouded now. Always wide, and unsettlingly so, even though she was blind. It was as if she could see things no other could see. Things that no other would want to see.

"We'll leave this one. It's of no use to us." Grimm said flatly, her voice emitting from the raven on her shoulder. He didn't like the way she spoke through it. It would cock its head, one beady black eye fixed on him as it parted its beak where her words would find him. She didn't sound like herself either. She sounded dead.

"What's wrong with this one?" Hejime muttered, shifting his flay knife into his dry hand to gesture to the particular corpse at their feet. There were more. Many more.

"This one is much too young. You were careless with this kill. However, you've done well with that one." She gestured a bony index finger toward a corpse laying face down in the grass beside the other. This one though, still had its skin, and could be distinguished as a man in his late fifties with scraggly graying hair. He had been an easy kill. The drunk had been belly up in an alleyway when Hejime had stumbled across him.

The woman approached the new corpse and circled it, her long white Kimono brushing the wet grass, stained the same deep red as the surgical mask she wore over her useless mouth. The raven began to fidget before it spoke.

"So many conditions must correlate perfectly, Dear Husband." She whispered as she mused down at the muscle tissue from beneath the cellophane binding Hejime had applied to preserve the flesh.

"But, above all else, the conjured must be controlled by my influence. At the first sign of insubordination, you must be prepared to abort the experiment... This scroll.." She brought a hand to her mask, grazing its papery surface with her finger tips, the raven sounding almost thoughtful. "It's a very powerful scroll... any that are risen from its power must be wielded by myself, alone."

Of the fifteen civilians Hejime had been ordered to kill, only five of them would be deemed suitable enough to utilize.

Even when Grimm was human, she'd had a passion. When they were young, her interest in the Byakugan wasn't strange to anyone. The Kekkei Genkai was renowned for good reason. It was her obsession and emulation of Kaguya that was frightening. Even after the goddess nearly wrought the destruction of life its self to all things, it had only served to deepen her devotion.

She was nearing her ranking now, becoming less human by the day. The sacrifices she'd made to become what she had... Laylin didn't exist anymore. But Grimm was never satisfied. Nor would she ever be until she possessed the Byakugan.

She had done a great deal of study on the Hyuga clan Doujutsu. She'd hand selected her following, and of course her donor. Four she would have for war, one she would save for herself. Each a Hyuga of the purest lineage.

Dairoku Hyuga. Famed and honored Main house wielder of a well trained Doujutsu. Passed in the Fourth Shinobi World War at the age of 20.

Minami Hyuga. The most powerful Doujutsu within a female of the Clan. Possibly more powerful than her male counterparts. Disregarded by the Main house for her gender, and lack of birthright. Deceased by questionable means at the age of 19.

Daishin Hyuga. Younger brother to Dairoku, a matching set of eyes with just as much chakric potential. Another powerhouse asset who had fallen in the Fourth Shinobi World War. Their family's lineage a consistent producer of high ranking Byakugan.

Hizashi Hyuga. Branch Member with an unknowingly powerful Byakugan, underutilized in his time, but soon to be under Grimm's command. Powerful, yes, but not practiced to it's zenith. His would require an older host in order to successfully summon him.

It was Hizashi's son that Grimm truly desired. The young man had not known that his Kekkei Genkai was the closest earthbound form to Kaguya's. But, with the help of the scroll, she knew that within his body was the purpose she had been chasing all this time.

With his eyes Laylin would see; With his eyes Grimm would reign.

Her dark objectives had been her inspiration 14 years ago, to begin her conquest to seek out the Shinigami Scroll. It would cost her greatly, her human soul, but it was the only way to successfully harvest the Byakugan. The Junjutsu of the Hyuga clan had served its purpose well, making the Doujutsu impossible to find unguarded. All attempts in history had been failures. Some had come close, but all had wound up empty handed and very much dead. Grimm knew better than to try the tired route of kidnapping. It seemed easy, but with eyes that see all, sneaking away with an unbranded main house brat would be quite impossible.

The scroll would grant her a very different means. Once it had merged itself with her being, it could read her every thought and bend itself to her needs. Those summoned would be twice as powerful as any stolen Kekkia Genkai. The scroll would enrich the conjured with its power. Near limitless chakra wells, all under her own command. With the seal having already been activated upon their deaths, the Hyuga would be resurrected unbranded. Then, and only then would Grimm be able to collect her selected Byakugan. With her Hyugan army of four, along with the power of the Scroll, and her very own pair of all seeing eyes, they would be unstoppable.

Even with all the power of Shinigami, with the key to the gate of the dead, still Hejime could not see for himself the relief of success on the horizon. For it was the scroll that had taken away the very last pieces of the Laylin he had known. The Laylin he had grown up with and fought beside back in Kirigakure when they were just genin. But, all of that, along with their teammate, were forsaken memories now lost to the tides of her greed.

Grimm protruded the scroll from her robes, its glossy pitch denying the starlight as she cast it out like a fishing net to the breeze. It unraveled before them as small dust particles came lofting from between the paper and settled into the grass. Oxygen and midnight dew seemed to activate the debris, for each blossomed red and pink, flesh and sinew. Indigo and white, vessel and bone.

A garden of bodies grew around them, each still sealed inside Hejime's binding like sickly spring rolls.

"Surely more than five of these will have the right proportions to sustain your chosen few..." Hejime mumbled, trying to sound present despite the fact that he was shrinking inside himself so that he may not have to face the things he'd done. The civilian bodies before them, each missing their skins, had been his doing. Needless to say it was not his most cherished task. In fact, no matter how many times he split and peeled, it never got any easier.

Hejime was ANBU for the Mizukage in another life, along side Grimm's former self. Promoted young, demoted to Missing-nin almost as quickly. That was many years ago. May the god's have mercy on any Hunter-nin that should stumble across them now...

"We are very far from our destination, Hejime. The scroll is heavy. We have the five we desire." The crow disclosed as it shifted its wings and left its handler before perching itself on his shoulder. The sharp little talons felt cold and menacing on his skin. He tried to hold Grimm's gaze from where she was standing among the rows of bodies. He was certain she could see him from the beady little eyes of the buzzard, and he didn't want her to think that he were being disrespectful simply because she could no longer see with her own.

She unwound the scroll in the opposite direction and this time five of the bodies began to shift and tremble. The bloody veal of flesh was spasming and seizing in a life-like way that made Hejime's stomach turn. Thankfully they shrank back into diminutive flecks of nothing in the fashion that they had come, before disappearing into the pages of the scroll.

"It is now time, Dear Husband. It is finally time..." The crow whispered to him as he followed behind her through the dead underbrush of the woods, leaving the rest of the wasted vessels in the clearing. These forrests were far from home, far from any village in fact. This was a solitary hinterland for the wolves. Perhaps they would make use of all the innocent lives he'd claimed in her name.

Yes, they were far from home. Hejime couldn't tell how far. He couldn't tell a lot of things after so long. He watched her glide over heavy wet leaves like a poltergeist devoid of life. She was too stiff, too pallid in the moonlight that filtered through the needles of the pines.

It wasn't because he was afraid of death. That was not why he followed. Though, he had seen what disobedience granted the ones that crossed her. Their third team member, Eijiro. He had discovered the penalty for defection some years ago. Hejime had stood by and watched as Laylin had parted him out with surgical precision, and an anger fit to fester. He had been afraid then, too. Even so, that was not what made him stay, now. It was a far more pitiful thing than fear. A small hope. A memory, even. For once she had been beautiful. Once, she had been everything. Hejime loved Laylin. Forever, For always. Even in death. And when Laylin had died, when every speck of her existence had been suffocated beneath the obsession of Grimm, Hejime had followed the Demon into darkness with a flame of hope in his heart that he guarded in secret. A hope that, perhaps, before whatever end befell him, he would catch a glimpse of her in the blank and empty void of this ghost she had become.


	19. Chapter 19

_There was a soft plea of porcelain stirring in soapy water. A gentle drip... drip... drip... from the lazy kitchen faucet. It echoed through the still morning air like a lullaby, its delicate melody lacing into the steady rhythm of quiescent breaths. Mae rolled over to find him sprawled out on his back atop her bedsheets, one arm behind his head, the other resting on his ribs, rising and falling with each slow and even exhale._

 _Neji._

 _His long hair was tangled around his forearm like frayed ribbons of the blackest brown. Morning light poured into her bedroom window through cotton shades, casting a bright, dewy gleam over his porcelain skin. The smell of fresh coffee beckoned her down the hall, but Mae lingered beneath her warm sheets._

 _She would stay here a while. As long as she could._

 _"You're suffocating him you know..." His voice was its usual even tone, holding the faintest bit of scolding. He didn't stir, but she'd watched his lips form his words and their curving frown of disapproval brought a smile to her face._

 _"I know..." She admitted softly._

 _He took in one long, slow breath. His eyes were still closed, but he seemed to sense her tears coming forth. He was never very good with responding to emotions. Not then, and apparently not here, either._

 _At least that was accurate._

 _"Haro isn't the best name.." he added, still toneless and unmoved._

 _Mae's tears slipped down her cheeks and found their way into her smile as she sputtered on a laugh._

 _Neji smiled too, quietly, at the sound, and after a moment he opened his eyes, dew frosted and hazy as the sea at dawn. She could almost feel the cool air on her skin._

 _Neji parted his lips and a saving grace was ushered to keep her from falling to pieces. This time he held a certainty to his voice that brought an ache deep into her chest. An ache of longing for a life half lived, to be completed. To have an end to a book only partly finished._

 _"It's the perfect name..." Neji said before closing his eyes, wearing a soft smile that Mae thought she had forgotten all those years ago._

..

Mae woke up in her room, everything exactly as it had been in her dream, though missing two key points.

There was no coffee.

And, there was no Neji..

Her subconscious certainly had done a great job of romanticizing him over the years. Apparently her inner voice was finally putting its foot down about the argument she'd been having with Haro on entering the academy, and her sneaky little shoulder angel had devised a vision of the one person most capable of swaying her.

She sat up and took a moment to reevaluate her alien environment. It had been almost a month since she and Haro had moved into their new, and all too permanent home, and it hadn't been nearly enough time for her to adjust to her bedroom. Each time she opened her eyes in the morning, the neat antique-white walls and beige lace curtains were still a shock. The only object in the room aside from her mattress had been her zither propped against the corner wall near the nook-seat window that overlooked the colorful domed structures of the village. The house was too empty, and she wasn't used to falling asleep alone in a room. She usually had Haro's steady breathing to lull her to sleep, or the wind in the trees, or the cackle of a small cooking fire... Mae would toss and turn without it until the wee hours of the morning when exhaustion would finally claim her.

They'd actually been able to buy a house with the loan she'd accepted from Hinata. That way if they ever moved, which she hoped that they would, then she'd be able to get a return in cash instead of sinking all the money into monthly rent in some crummy apartment.

The power outage hadn't improved very much at all, but the dent in the housing market that it caused had accounted for the (what Haro so chipperly referred to as) "sweet digs." It was a pretty big house for just the two of them. A two story, three bedroom, two bath with an old cellar, and an all seasons porch. Clean soft-white walls and glossy oak floors, and a quaint backyard that opened to the nearby woods. Way too many bells and whistles for Mae, but Haro and his friends had been the ones doing the negotiating with the real-estate agent, for Mae had been relying on her default setting ever since agreeing to stay in Konoha. That default setting was an underwhelming mixture of grumpy and dead.

Mae crawled out of bed with a groan and wriggled into her small work dress. It was a deep green, long sleeved button up with a generously deep angular collar and a cinched waist, and a teeny-tiny cropped white apron for that endearing "I live to serve you" look. Mandatory garb for her new job at the village greenhouse. Mimi's Herbs for Ails. Old Mimi was adamant about her all female staff adhering to the dress code. A dress code that the old bird deemed flattering, but more importantly, alluring for their typical customers, which were mostly Shinobi and med-nin coming to stock up for missions. _Mimi's Herbs for Ails_. Mae still found it unfitting that the greenhouse should have such a peppy name when she was willing to wager the botanicals purchased where, more often than not, concocted into poisons. Perhaps the blithe title was a bitter joke of sorts. Either way business was always steady, and yet still quiet, and she could appreciated that.

Mae had always been well read on many subjects. She spoke quite a few different languages and dialects, and was well versed in nearly all forms of traditional etiquette, all of which had been hardwired into her brain against her will at the teahouse. But, one thing she had studied heavily, albeit, a result of boredom that had then blossomed into a natural interest, had been botany. It had come in handy a time or two, and now it served as one of the only meditative activities that she could commit herself to lately.

Mae lumbered down the stairs whilst fighting with the starchy fabric of her uniform with agitated fingers. It was too tight, and short, and all around degrading as hell.

"Ama, do you mind if I go to the library with Sumoki today?" Haro asked from where he sat cross-legged atop the glossy maroon kitchen table. It was the only piece of furniture that had come with the property, presumably because of its size. It was so large and heavy that surely the house must have been constructed around it. There were no chairs however, which rendered it just as purposeless as the useless appliances.

Mae grumbled, surrendering her personal battle with her attire before reaching into her apron pocket for her wallet. She snagged a bill between her fingertips and flicked it at Haro.

"Buy yourself some breakfast. You look thin." Mae sighed. She was thankful that he hadn't incited the usual argument that morning. Haro smiled a broad grin and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek before high tailing it out into the rain like a love sick puppy dog. Haro probably didn't even know it yet, but Mae knew he was head over heels for that silvery little heart throb, Sumoki. She was a nice enough girl. Snarky, and witty, and more inquisitive than a harpy eagle, but nice all the same.

It was a cloudy, soggy day. Cold too. A wet kind of cold that seeps into the skin and makes the dormant early-onset arthritis in finger joints flare and nag. It had been raining for a few days, the excessive downpour leaving the village in a dark and muted shade of bottle green. It smelled nice, though. To Mae, nothing smelled better than cold, wet earth under a fresh, frigid rain.

The village was lazy. Shops dawned sopping awnings and dripping marquees for the few customers that were motivated enough to venture from cozy quilts and cushions. The bakery smoke stack was pluming hot steam into the streets that fell heavy down the lattice near its front entrance, until the butter cookie cloud dissipated into the cold. The bakers round windows were glowing through the hazy gray in a warm and inviting fashion, but Mae was late already. She clutched the collar of her jacket tighter around her chin to keep out the chill, and kept on down the road.

The greenhouse was near the far center of the village, tucked into a wood close to what she discovered had once been the Uchiha Clan Compound. The greenhouse was a long, A framed, glass conservatory. On clear days the expanse of windows gave a crystalline view of the many rows of lush plant life within, but today the glass was shrouded and fogged so entirely that the structure was smoldering with a muted yellow haze. All that could be seen through the condensation were blurs and smears of motion from her fellow employees tending to plots and potted plants within.

Mae dawned her jacket as she stepped into the humid air, letting the glass door snap shut behind her. It was like a rain forest inside a bubble. It smelled almost as nice as it did outside. Earthy, whole, mesmerizing-

"Look everyone, It's Maybe-Mae! And she's only 20 minutes late!" Mimi squawked as she jabbed Mae in the chest with the butt-end of her gnarled willow cane. The tiny old woman's wrinkled, and droopy grimace was somehow still capable of forming a sarcastic kind of expression. She wore her long gray hair tied into a tight bun at the top of her head, and that seemed to pull straight a few of her forehead wrinkles, but the rest of her ancient face hung plump like a chipmunk in autumn.

"So, have you any excuses today?" Mimi inquired as she cocked her head, and squinted a beady little eye up at Mae. At least Mae assumed she was squinting. The old woman was so puffy and droopy that it was hard to tell if she could see anything from beneath the folds of skin her eyelids had become.

"Sorry, Mimi Sama. This weather made me sleep in." Mae sighed, sounding both unapologetic and bored.

Mimi grumbled a few curse words under her breath as she shuffled along side where ever Mae went as if to personally foresee that she were getting her works worth out of her, though Mae knew that the woman just wanted to cluck and gossip.

"I thought perhaps you'd finally found a gentleman caller." The old woman chuckled dryly, raising a curly gray brow high enough to showcase a mousy little eye. "That kind of occurrence would be forgivable, especially if it was one of our regular customers.." The woman wiggled her brows up and down in a very inappropriate manner.

"I already told you I'm not sleeping with customers for your benefit, Mimi Sama! Were you a brothel keeper before this gig? "

The crazy little lady stuck out her chin from her colorful hanten jacket like a tortoise, causing the folds of excess skin to tremble on her neck. She always appeared precarious in her movements, as though at any moment she might crack into tiny pieces like a brittle clay pot.

"That's none of your business! And fine! But you'll never be employee of the month with that attitude!" Mimi croaked playfully, waving a knobby finger of scolding in the air.

Mae shook her head and rolled her eyes. "You're absolutely crazy, you know that.?"

Mimi just waddled her osteoporosis happily down the isles of orchids with a raspy trill, thumping her cane into warm puddles as she went.

"Her tongue's too sprightly for those old bones." Mae teased as her favorite employee came up beside her to water the Amaryllis Mae was dead-heading.

"She's bat-shit crazy, but for some reason I find it refreshing." Hana chirped with a cutesy grin as she tipped back her tin watering can.

Mae was happy to have met Hana Kobayashi. A pretty girl inside and out. Long blond curls and happy, bright green eyes. A dusting of freckles over round cheekbones. She had a good sense of humor too, always eager to participate in the day to day workplace banter. She was a beacon of light that helped to ease the heavy depression Mae was battling inside.

"I think she promotes the sexual harassment because she's just a horny old toad trying to relive her golden years. I mean, she probably hasn't been laid in at least a couple centuries.." Hana added while wearing a thoughtful expression as they watched the old woman cavorting about on wobbly legs, shuffling back and forth between young male customers. The men seemed accustomed to it, but were still a bit put-off, frantically trying to deflect by assuring her that they had everything they needed and knew what they were looking for.

"I'd encourage her to find a boyfriend and all, but I doubt she'd survive foreplay, much less consummation." Mae winced at her own observation.

Hana giggled, "Oh my god, could you imagine...?" She held a hand to her mouth in an attempt to contain her next thought, but out it came. "I bet she looks like a warped plastic bag…"

"That one to the left, there, that nice big red one... Oh! watch out, it might be heavy..." The girls heard Mimi, who was now near the far corner of the greenhouse, coyly coercing an attractive Shinobi into climbing a ladder to fetch an empty pot from a high shelf. The old woman was moseying around the ladders feet admiring the man from as many angles as her feeble little legs could muster. The fellow descended the ladder with the heavy porcelain in his strapping arms.

"That will be the perfect size. Yes. It's nice and ** _big_**!" Mimi smiled a gummy smile, giving the pot he was holding a good spank.

"Oh my god!"

"Did she really...?" Mae and Hana crouched to hide behind a shelf of Lobelias until their wave of giggles wore off.

The rest of the day was a steady stream of pruning, watering, and relocating. On hot days the glass roof would be opened to let out some of the moisture inside so that the prairie plants wouldn't wilt in the wet air, but today the areas near the windowed walls were chilly, an environment better suited for high-altitude plants, and so Mae and her fellow employees were skittering back and forth like ants arranging larvae.

Her first day on the job Mae had been quite impressed by Mimi's rare selection of herbs and foliage. Twelve of the deadliest plants of the known world were grown in-store, many of which Mae had only read about. One of them had stood out amongst the others. A rare and entrancing Ranunculaceae.

" _The poison Queen."_

A beautiful plant with violet blooms of tri-lobed petals, soft and velveteen, but within lay rows of coarse teeth, pointed as thorns. Dainty as a buttercup, and as captivating and inconspicuous as any well practiced killer should be.

Mae would find herself standing in front of the pot that held her, admiring her spiraled arrangement of petioles, and dusted shafts of the deepest greens. That's where she had found herself once more, daydreaming among the Toxicus Delphinieae section in the back of the greenhouse, until a customer caught her eye. He was moving along the rows, his cut-off glove protruding a finger that grazed the tacked name plates across the lip of the shelf. He was an older man, appearing to be in his late forties. Clearly a shinobi. Skin tight black spandex that hugged curving lean muscle. A moss green flak vest atop utilitarian trousers tucked into the classic shinobi sandal. He had a jagged crop of thick silver hair jutting out above muted deep set eyes, one bearing a scar down his cheekbone where a mask held tightly, to cover him, nose to neck. Mae had seen many Shinobi, all different kinds. Some as young and naive as new born pups fresh out of the academy. Others, old and battle worn. Silent like stones with empty gazes and calloused hands. But this man seemed to fall somewhere between, and was very hard to read.

"Can I help you find something?" Mae offered quietly.

The man didn't take notice of her at first. Instead he paused before a potted Oleander shrub in the height of its bloom, and tucked it into his grip before turning to meet Mae's gaze.

"Just getting a few flowers for my daughter."

Mae felt a small rush of alarm and wasted no time in informing him of his mistake.

"Oh, well I don't think Nerium Oleander is what your looking for..." Mae began as she eyed the flowering shrub in his hand. "It's a beautiful Apocynaceae, but incredibly Poisonous when ingested. Numerous toxic compounds make up almost the entire plant, specifically designed to target the cardiovascular and central nervous system. A slow death too...It takes a few days of agony before the body is too weak to fight it anymore."

The man smiled from beneath his mask. She could tell it by his eyes.

"You must be Haro's mother." He offered, making no movements to return the plant to the shelf.

"Your son's been hanging around my daughter quite a bit lately."

"Oh, you're Sumoki's Dad!? Oh, please don't worry about Haro he's not trouble, he's a really nice boy-" Mae was cut off from her reassuring explanation by the mans warm chuckle.

"I'm not worried about that, trust me." Kakashi held out his free hand to introduce himself, and Mae hesitated before shaking it. After all, who could know how many lives had been snuffed out in the clutch of those broad palms.

"You're Mae, right? I'm Kakashi. It's nice to put a face to the name. After all, our kids will be teammates soon."

Mae perked her ears to be sure she'd heard him right. Kakashi noted her look of agitated confusion and sighed.

"Or perhaps my daughter has been thinking aloud again. Sorry. I just assumed he'd be joining the academy since he's been training with the team, and..." Kakashi paused as a heated, red shade of vexed displeasure colored its way across her face. This was all news to Mae. Very, very unwelcome news.

"I'm sorry, what..?!" Mae inquired sharply.

"Guess I wasn't supposed to say that either, huh.." Kakashi offered awkwardly as he scratched the back of his neck. "Damn kid and her brown-nosing. Can't tell what's public domain anymore..."

Mae spun on her heel and stomped through the isles with her pruning sheers, now cutting and slicing like it were the flowers who had wronged her. Haro was lying to her, and for how long? The entire month? No wonder he hadn't asked her about joining the academy that morning. He'd practically already done it without her say so. How dare he!

"Hey, wait a minute!" Kakashi cried as he followed after her. "I know it must be kind of...complicated, what with your son's..eye and all, but-"

Mae stopped in her tracks and rounded on him, causing the man to falter backward in surprise.

" _Great_! You know about that too!" Mae growled in a low voice, in an attempt to keep their conversation private, though apparently nothing about her personal life was private with that snoopy little pixie digging around.

"Sumoki wouldn't tell a soul about his dad, or his eye..!" Kakashi defended in a hush, but based off of the look on Mae's face, he wasn't supposed to know about Neji, either. Mae growled in frustration and started to literally be-head the Gaillardia's with her sheers. "Is she keeping tabs on how few breaks I get at work, too? Because I've been meaning to build up a case!" She hissed with a heavily sarcastic tone.

Kakashi sighed and tried again.

"Like I said, I get it. It's tough letting your kids grow up, but sooner or later-"

"Well _you're_ awfully familiar! What a lovely first impression you're making. First you lay my intimate life out in front of me like a cheese platter, and now your giving me parenting advice? Why don't you, and your little interrogation specialist stay far away from Me, and My Son!"

Old Mimi had come scooting down the aisle of coneflower, and interrupted their quiet confrontation with her usual impropriety.

"Well, if it isn't Kakashi Hatake, the silver fox! How are you this gloomy day, well, besides ravishingly handsome of course."

"Hello, Miss Mimi Sama..." Kakashi groaned from beneath his mask.

"Maybe-Mae isn't giving you any trouble now, is she? She's got a tongue like a viper this one." The old woman winked at him while flicking her tongue in and out of the space her front teeth had, once upon a time, been.

"Uh...Maybe-Mae...?" Kakashi asked after recovering from the repulsion Mimi's little metaphor had inspired.

"Don't ask." Mae jeered with the same bratty tone a 16 year old girl might have in the principals office.

"She's a lout, She's always late, and she never comes in with a good excuse for it!" The old woman howled jovially as she waddled past Mae, giving her a good spank in the rear with her cane.

"Ow! That's Sexual Harassment You Nasty Old Crow!" Mae spat, rubbing her seat while glaring at the womans back as she chortled down the row.

Mae returned to Kakashi and was a bit surprised to find his expression entirely changed.

"Have lunch with me."

He said it in a way that wasn't really a question at all, but the outline of a smile beneath his mask helped to soften the demand.

"Why..." Mae scrutinized through a grumpy glare.

"Because, you look like you need a break from this place. Hell, you look like you need a break from the whole damn village. There's a barbecue outside the gate a few miles, by the waterfront... unless you want to wait for those to grow back so you can mutilate them again..." He added slyly, giving a gesture to the flower caps in shambles around her feet.

Mae scrunched up her nose and narrowed her gaze, but Kakashi just kept on smiling.

"I'll get your coat." He offered helpfully, as he turned on his heel and headed for the till with his toxic plant in hand.

"Wait, I'm still working! Mimi needs me-"

"No I don't!" Mimi hollered from somewhere in the vegetation.

 _Damn that little toad of a woman..._


	20. Chapter 20

"Yakiniku...How very straight forward." Mae noted as she and Kakashi Hatake approached the open air pub, its sign bearing its title plainly, and without shame. The rain had stopped just long enough for their walk, and started back up again as they'd ducked under the crimson marquee and seated themselves at the bar. Sticky sweet steam was pluming over head, pooling along the gently billowing cloth of the awning before escaping into the rain. A portly man was working the grill like a conductor of a grand machine, flipping, flambeing, and manipulating the flames over some of the most delicious looking meats Mae thought she'd ever seen. The heat from the grill felt so nice in the cold, and Mae was suddenly thankful that she'd not decided to refuse his offer for lunch.

The grill master and Kakashi seemed quite familiar, and the Shinobi only had to raise two fingers with a smile in order for the cook to know exactly what he wanted.

Mae had never been in this area before. The Naka river went wide down in the lowlands here, and the rushing water was deep and texture-less as it carved its muddy flow against the dead grass along its banks. This man's restaurant was in a good spot. The small port was in view, and two weather worn ferry boats sat bobbing lazily in the current, tethered to the docks like sleeping horses to a hitching rail. Mae was willing to bet that on a good day the little port would be modestly busy, but the rain didn't make for a nice outing on the river, or any kind of travel for that matter, and so the docks were empty. The only other people around were two old men seated a few chairs down from them on worn out barstools, sharing stories over noon-day sake.

Kakashi noticed Mae looking at the elders, and smiled.

"They're always here. If you ask them why they're drinking so early they'll tell you it's because their wives are fat, and it's sex night."

"How charming." Mae said with a strained and vacant smile.

Kakashi flagged the chef once more and raised another gesture, and the chubby man waddled over with two shot glasses.

"And what's your excuse?" Mae scrutinized with a smirk as she watched the glasses fill with translucent rice wine.

"I like sake." Kakashi answered flatly as he slid a finger beneath the lip of his mask and pulled it down to reveal a straight nose, and a sharp jawline. The view was brief as he downed his shot before tugging it back over his face, and sliding her glass toward her.

"Oh, I don't think I should. I have to go back to work..." Mae reasoned shyly.

"Exactly." Kakashi added with a raised brow.

Mae shrugged. He wasn't wrong. She popped it back without a shudder, much to Kakashi's surprise.

"What? I like sake." She mimicked with a giggle.

Kakashi raised a hand again and the cook returned with more.

"So, why did you want me to have lunch with you?" Mae began as their plates were dropped in front of them, steaming in the frigid air, sending up heavenly whiffs of perfection. Mae forgot she'd asked a question as she dug into the tangy smörgåsbord, until Kakashi distracted her. In one flourish he'd drawn a black handkerchief from his breast pocket and fastened it over his nose. It hung loosely past his chin, and so he reached beneath it and tugged down his mask. No one in the bar seemed remotely confused, or even paid any attention, aside from Mae, who watched as he began ducking mouthfuls under the bib with his chopsticks. She decided to disregard it the way the others had.

"I didn't want any bad blood between the two of us on my daughters behalf. She's a curious girl, I know, and she's always meddling, but it's just her way. It's like an art form to her, and it's quite a skill to have in our profession."

Mae grumbled. "Well, it's not so much myself whose bent on keeping Haro anonymous, you know. It's more-"

"Haishi. Yes, I do know."

Mae rolled her eyes. "Of course you do.."

"If you asked me, I think it would be wise to completely disregard the old man entirely."

"You're joking.!" Mae nearly choked on her meal. "You didn't see what they did to him..."

"I understand that it's Haishi's responsibility to protect the Clan Doujutsu, and that's all fine and well, but what he did to Haro was an intimidation tactic directed toward keeping Neji's name clean. He was trying to save face for the clan. I mean no offense by this, but...you're street performers...Neji's a dead war hero who saved the lives of the two most famous living people in the fire nation. It's not so difficult to see his motive." Kakashi explained in a steady rhythm without looking up from his food. He had another mouthful and took his time to swallow before downing a third shot, and carrying on. "In my opinion, hiding Haro from the village isn't going to do him any favors. That's exactly what Hiashi wants. In secret he can intimidate him into subordination, like he did when he branded him. No, I think the more people know of him, the safer he will likely be. Hiashi can't torture him in the publics eye with his own reputation at stake.." The last word had seemed to remind Kakashi of the bulgogi, and so he paused to take another bite.

"I think sharing his existence, hell, even flaunting himself as Neji's son might actually force Haishi into an idle position. After all, he's less likely to deliver any severe punishment with the public bearing witness." Kakashi added through a mouthful.

Mae sat stunned for a moment, her wide eyes searching his calm demeanor that looked as though he'd been talking about the weather instead of the fate of an innocent boy. But, it dawned on her that he was right. Mae was happy to ignore the clan's wishes, and certainly more than willing, but not with her son's wellbeing in peril. Though, perhaps the better route would, in fact, be to...

"Wait just a minute! You're trying to get me to let Haro join the academy so that Sumoki can take the Chunin exam this year, aren't you!" Mae scoffed, stealing the shot he'd prepped for himself. She slammed it back and knocked the glass down on the counter in front of him with a disapproving frown. "Nice try. I'll take you're advice, but I'm not " _flaunting him as Neji's son"._ I'm not letting him join that war school. I've made too many mistakes already.."

Kakashi's eyes got warm as he studied the empty shot glass before him. "You've got something on your mind, so just spill it..."

Mae didn't speak, and so he sighed. "It's not like me to care much about others enough to uphold this long of a conversation, but when I became a dad...I guess that changed."

Mae glanced sideways at the man who was now resting his chin on his knuckles, his elbows propped on the counter top.

"You look pretty young, so you must have had Haro in your teens, right? Well, I may not have been so young, but I sure as hell wasn't prepared for it...At first I didn't want to admit she was mine, but the little bug looked just like me... This hair's not exactly common." He added as he pulled away the handkerchief he'd used as cover while he ate. He'd somehow already tugged up the mask beneath it without her noticing.

"Her name was Hanare. Just as fickle as any espionage expert should be... Anyway, a one night stand of a pitty fuck turned into 10 months of silence, followed by a basket on my front door, and a note that read _\- I can't do this_... ...Can you believe that..? She didn't even bother to give her a name..."

Kakashi's smiling eyes wilted around the edges, but they perked as he met Mae's gaze.

"But, what do you do? You call all the women you know, get a prescription for some powerful anti-anxiety pills, and read every parenting self-help book in the nation.!"

He and Mae shared a chuckle as she poured them another pair of shots, for the chef had long since left the bottle for them.

"And, now here I am. Proud father of a head strong, intelligent young lady who I love more than anything I thought I ever could...I know it's hard letting them grow up in a world like ours. Naruto's right, too. Just because the nations are at peace now, doesn't mean they always will be. It's wise to show them how to defend themselves, and the people they care for. It's a hell of a lot better than leaving them helpless..."

Mae sighed a heavy sigh as she watched him finish his shot. She left hers on the bar top and was turning it in her fingers while wearing a distant smile.

Kakashi glanced at her and raised a brow. "What's that look for?"

Mae shook her head and clicked her tongue. "I always tell Haro it's his father's fault he's so stubborn..." Mae punctuated by slamming her sake. A silent moment went by before a laugh escaped from beneath Kakashi's mask.

Mae smiled bitterly, and poured herself another shot.

"Jeesh, slow down. You've gotta go back to work, remember?"

"Fuck Mimi." Mae exclaimed dryly.

"I'm sure she'd like that." Kakashi teased, gesturing to the cook for a to-go box.

…

"So, what did you're mom have to say today?" Sumoki asked Haro as they moseyed side by side down a woodland trail, quite a ways beyond the village barrier.

It was foggy. The woods were turning to marshes. The rain that poured could barely reach the forest floor through the thick canopy, and so it fell from above like a fine, icy mist. Juvenile mosquitoes wafted up around their shins as they rustled them out from the long wet grass with every step.

"I didn't ask her today. I'm really sick of arguing..." Haro sighed while plucking apart a twig in his hands. "She's pretty adamant about me not getting killed. Not exactly something I can hold against her."

Haro watched Sumoki shrug and smile down the path. He liked her in this weather. The haze made her thick, chalky hair stand out like an ice cap on a stony mountain face, and it made her black iris's somehow deeper.

"Your mom is a civilian. I guess I don't know what that's like. When I told my dad I wanted to start Immunity Training he didn't even bat an eye."

"What's that?" Haro inquired as he flicked the last shred of his twig into a bush.

Sumoki smirked. "A very under utilized practice in my opinion. It's when you expose yourself to different toxins and poisons in small amounts so that your body can build up an immunity to it. I bet I could take a Mahi dart to the jugular at this point and it wouldn't even slow me down."

Haro stumbled a bit beneath the thought.

"So your dad just lets you _poison_ yourself!? Isn't that dangerous?"

Sumoki grinned playfully as she bumped her hip into his, sending him a few paces off the path.

"You and your mom are a lot alike."

Haro blushed.

"Of course it's dangerous." Sumoki went on. "But, the only thing more dangerous would be to find yourself dying in the dirt after getting hit with a laced weapon. Don't get me wrong. I've over done it before..I've made a poultice a bit above my league a time or two. No fun at all..."

"You make your own poisons?"

"Yeah. My dad helps me. He's pretty good at it. He's retired now and really needed a hobby that wasn't burying his nose in a book all day."

To Haro, the Shinobi world was a fascinating one. Human normalcy teetering on the edge of insanity. Parents going so far as to steer their children down the path of violence as soon as they could walk, all in the name of war.

Haro wasn't much for war. And yet, he found himself debating that. He didn't like to hurt others, but recent events had inspired unsavory possibilities that he wanted an upper hand in. He never again wanted to feel as helpless as he had inside the Hyuga compound.

"Your mom will come around I bet." Sumoki interjected into his thoughts.

"Its not just her that's keeping me from joining the academy you know...Hiashi wants me to pretend I don't exist. Staying out of all the Ninja drama lessens my chances of drawing attention...I'm not even sure how many people already know my name? I don't even know how _you_ figured out what my name was!" Haro lamented.

"You're kidding, right? Boruto. Duh!" Sumoki exclaimed with a raised brow. "I swear, five seconds of tailing him and he'd already said your name like ten times."

"Should have guessed." Haro grumbled as he reached up to take down his hair to re-fasten it. "Great. At this rate the whole village will figure out who I am, and the clan will have me dead by weeks end."

"Probably." Sumoki chirped brightly. "But, I've been keeping a list in my head of all people who know about your byakugan, verses people who actually know who you are. I'm sure you'll find it helpful, and you're welcome."

Sumoki began as she counted off on her fingers.

"List of people who know about the Byakugan: Uzumaki family, Shikamarou, Sakura, and of course the clan council. Oh! My dad, and me."

"Wait a minute. How do you know about Sakura!? You weren't even in the room? And who's Shikamarou? And, you told your dad!?"

Sumoki grinned. "I was standing outside the door at the hospital. Hakaru was giving me a lecture with his eyes the whole time. _So annoying._ And Shikamarou is Naruto's right hand dude. He's a total lump, but I think he's afraid of your mom!" Sumoki giggled. "And I told my dad because he's my dad, you dummy!"

Haro was beyond perplexed. _Snoop did not even begin to scratch the surface_.

"Where was I? Ah, yes. List of people who know about _your_ dad: Again, Uzumaki family, the clan council, and myself of course...and my dad."

"Huh, you really are nosy, aren't you." Haro chuckled.

"I'm pretty much going to be the best Intel Ops Nin of all time." She declared with a chipper smile that started a little flutter in Haro's chest.

"I don't doubt it." Haro added. "But explain this. How did the Clan council know that I'm Neji's offspring?"

"Probably by your chakra. Most kids inherit a mixture of their parents Chakra, and since Mae doesn't have much to give up I bet you've got a pretty close match to your dads."

Haro shook his head. Sumoki hadn't been in the room when he'd told Sakura about his worries for his mother's lack of chakra, either, and yet she was somehow cognizant to that information as well. Apparently she had been eavesdropping through his entire conversation with the Med-nin, Sakura.

"Not to mention..." Sumoki added as she flicked her fingers in and out of his pants pocket so fast it was nearly a blur. She took the photo of Neji that Hinata had given him then held it up to his face, and smirked.

"If it weren't for that red eye, you'd be twins!"

Haro swiped the photo back. This girl was like a Venus Fly Trap of information that apparently didn't exclude cataloging what he kept in his pockets.

She was starring at him in an odd way that roused a question.

"What?" Haro asked. He watched those abysmal eyes graze over his face. She looked as though she were searching for something when a cute smile caught her lips.

"I'm glad your face is back to normal. In the hospital you looked like a basset hound...now you look, like...nice..."

Haro blushed, trying to construct an equally light and non-committal compliment without giving away too much, but he ran out of time before she changed the subject.

"I still think this is an awesome idea." She sang brightly. "Oh, and I think we should tell Hakaru. He's got his own issues with the Clan council, since he's a branch Hyuga too. So he's not going to spill the beans. Plus he's going to be the one helping us figure out why you're so weird, and were a team after all." Sumoki rambled as the two of them reached the clearing.

"Tell me what?" Hakaru Hyuga landed silently before them on his toes giving Haro a quick start. Sumoki seemed already acquainted with his presence before he'd even appeared.

She silently urged Haro, wearing an eager smile. But, Haro was pale and uneasy. Sumoki rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on! It's just Hakaru. And, were miles from the village wall!" She cried happily as she swiped the bandages from Haro's head.

"I knew it!" Hakaru cried as he spotted the brand and the familiar eye before slapping Haro on the shoulder.

"I thought I recognized those burn lines in the hospital. Granted I've never seen them that bad before. You must have really pissed the old geezer off, huh. What did you do?"

Sumoki didn't bother to hide her sly grin as she raised a brow at Haro, once again urging him to drop his bombshell. He didn't want to.

"He's Neji's love child. Guess the Clan was super pissed that the "genius" lent out his A class Byakugan to a mutt." She teased very harshly. Haro grumbled feeling exposed and a little more than irritated.

"What! No Way?! Were like third cousins!" Hakaru cried as he wrapped the addled Haro in a hug.

"Your _all_ like cousins. Every last one of you creepy inbreds. How do they spread out the genes anyway? Or are you hiding a tail under those hakamas?" Sumoki jeered as she swiped at the hem of the boys shirt to check.

"I do not have a tail!" Hakaru hollered in a manner that seemed as though he'd shouted it many times before.

"He totally does..." Sumoki whispered before having to dodge an incoming jab.

"Hey, save it for the mutant!" She directed as their skirmish rounded on the heterochromia eyed boy.

"Please don't spend the whole day punching me again." Haro dissuaded with a heavy sigh. "I mean, I just got out of the hospital..."

Sumoki and Hakaru shared a glance.

"But, how else are we going to figure out how weird you are?" She asked sounding overly innocent for a girl begging to hit someone.

Haro groaned as he lumbered forward toward the center of the clearing.

"Just make sure you keep up your end of the bargain and teach me something useful. I never agreed to be a punching bag for your benefit. In fact that's exactly what I'm trying to avoid." Haro sulked as he prepped himself for the beating.

"Well of course were going to teach you how to kick ass. But first we need to feel out what were dealing with. This ability will really set us ahead of the rest if we can figure out how it works. What its limits are. What its weaknesses are.. That being said..." Sumoki flourished a hand as she gestured to Hakaru. He smiled happily and flexed his fingers.

"Let's start with a simple one. Well, simple for me since you have no idea how this works..."

"Just do it.." Haro spat as he closed his eyes with a furrow in his brow, seizing beneath the anticipation of pain. To his surprise nothing but a soft graze followed by a light tap hit his left shoulder.

Haro opened his eyes to find Hakaru standing before him with a hand to his chin, looking deep in thought.

"Insertion techniques don't seem to work..It appears as though your own chakra accepts foreign chakra as its own, and just absorbs it...mine changes to your color when in contact...interesting..."

"That can't be it though." Sumoki interjected. "When I use my own chakra insertion techniques they worked every time, and I wasn't even using a powerful ninjutsu."

"Chisana hato no jutsu?"

"Yeah."

Haro was standing awkwardly between them as they talked over him the way two repair men talk about a broken electrical box.

"Well if it only works with specifically gentle fist...maybe it's not the technique itself but the type of chakra...Clan's share similar chakra types. Maybe his body can detect the difference?"

"We would need another hyuga in order to be sure."

"Nooope!" Haro interrupted suddenly as he folded his arms over his chest. "I already told you I'm not playing punching bag for you guys. NO way."

"But, Haro you don't understand how incredible this is! No one, and I mean NO ONE can absorb another persons chakra without even trying. It's completely unheard of! It takes years of training just to deflect a surgical attack. And you just...do it...?" Sumoki suddenly looked as though she were starring at a centaur. Her gaze was making Haro a bit uncomfortable.

"Either way, I'm not okay with inviting another person into this mess. Enough people know about me already. Lets just sum this up as some weird birth defect and leave it at that, okay?"

"Maybe thats it!" Hakaru reveled, seeming to have completely ignored him. "Maybe it's something about your parents? Something they passed down. Is there anything unusual about your mom?"

Haro and Sumoki shared a furrowed glance.

"You said your mom has almost no chakra at all, right? And that it's red...I don't know about you guys but...the only red chakra I've ever heard of comes from...demons..."

An awkward and uncomfortable quiet settled into the woods before Haro disrupted it with a scoff.

"Pfft. Yeah, my moms a demon, and I'm Gamabunta the Toad Boss. I don't think so you guys. She's just sick or something...or maybe she was born that way. I don't know."

Sumoki sighed and laced her fingers behind her head as she tilted up to look at the sky.

"Whatever you say, man."

"I don't like that look. Why don't I like that look.?" Haro voiced his suspicions as he studied the coy little grin on her lips.

"You catch on quickly, huh!" Hakaru chuckled as he gave his third cousin a pat on the shoulder once more.

Haro sighed a heavy sigh. "She's going to be snooping around my mom now, isn't she..?"

Hakaru pulled him to his side, by the neck, in an inaugural sort of fashion before offering up a nod.

"Yup! She totally is."

…

Their ruthless experimentation had only inspired more hypothesis, and not a single answer.

Haro drug himself home feeling sore and hungry, but neither were more uncomfortable than sitting with the guilt of lying to his mother. She wasn't being unfair by not letting him join the academy. Her intentions were good, and always had been. But, still...

Haro knew deep down that his choice to keep the Byakugan had been influenced by more than just the fear of losing an eye. He'd seen what it could do, and felt it first hand. He'd heard the stories about his dad, and all the incredible feats he'd accomplished, all the danger that the village had averted because of Neji. Haro felt, perhaps, just maybe a little envious. But why? He shouldn't...because that same ability was lodged in his head. What kind of person would he be to just let that go to waste?

Haro opened the sliding door to the kitchen after popping off his shoes. He spotted Ama at the counter by the sink. It looked like she'd picked up dinner, for a big paper bag with Yakiniku printed on its face was steaming deliciously on the table beside a stapled stack of paper.

"Hey, Ama. How was work?" Haro asked, trying to sound normal. He leaned against the table near the bag. "What's this? It's smells amazing..." His eyes drifted down to the papers beside the food. To his astonishment, it was an application forum for the Academy. Blank space awaited his name, aside for one section. Mae had filled out, in her neat hand writing, one segment of the form. Under the space that inquired who his father was, she'd written his name.

 _Son of Neji Hyuga_.

Haro's heart was pounding as he glanced up at his mother. She was leaning against the sink wearing a rigid grin, but her eyes were smoldering.

"You'll make him proud, Kiddo." She assured him as that grin broke into a broad and unyielding smile


	21. Chapter 21

The basic General Education Diploma was simple enough. Haro had passed it without difficulty due to his mothers thorough home schooling, but the written exam that pertained to battle tactics, trajectories, and basic ninjutsu would surely be a challenge of another kind. One that would prove to be, in more worlds or less, a royal Bitch. Not to mention having to produce an actual Clone of himself. A feat that, not one week prior, Haro would have deemed entirely impossible for he himself to accomplish. Iruka Sensai and the fellow board were willing to allow him to be placed among his age group, and into the fittingly open position on Team Gakuto, but, only if he could successfully pass it. The sensai's were hesitant at first, but after Mae had paid a visit to the school staff office to remind them who his father was ( _and warn them of who his mother was_ ) they were much more compliant.

Sumoki Hatake had met him the morning of the exam in the usual spot. She was confident that their hours, and hours, and HOURS of studying would pay off, but there was one hurtle left to surpass, and the kid was running out of time.

"Just focus, alright...and remember...Tiger, Boar, Ox, Dog.."

Haro didn't respond to her. He just kept repeating hand signs over and over trying to recall all the meditative jargon she'd drilled into him to help command his tenketsu.

Sumoki smiled at the tyro from where she sat cross-legged in the grass, absentmindedly surveying his 15th attempt that morning to produce a clone. Haro's mind was visibly reeling inside, but even so, it was hard for her to stay as focused on the task, despite that they'd nearly run out of time. He'd worn his hair down that day, and now that the annoying bandages over his face were gone it was difficult for her not to stare at those eyes. He was glaring down at his hands, memorizing seal signs, his dual-color gaze and his Hyuga Brand flashing in and out of view behind thick strands of straight earth-brown hair. He didn't cover up his seal like most Hyuga kids. He didn't know enough to be ashamed of it.

The sun was hot, but the wind was cool, and the ruckus of the breeze showcased just how long his hair really was when it wasn't up in that messy knot on his head. It tangled down just past his tail bone, and whipped and wove around his biceps and forearms in the tempestuous air. She wondered if Mae had ever trimmed it in all his fifteen years alive. It sure didn't seem like it. It wasn't straight, or neat, or complaisant like the Clan's hereditary mane. It wasn't a frizzy plume of curls like his dark-skinned mother's, either, but it certainly held the same vivacious life. Sumoki had thought it many times already but she once again noted his unusual clothing. A loose mud-green tunic with humbly embroidered edges, its fabric light and thin, and semi-translucent in the sun. Twany cotton trousers that he rolled up his calves with a few holes in the knees. A pair of trail worn sandals that appeared to have been rigged back together countless times. He looked nothing like the photos of his father in that sense. His lax vagabond appearance set him apart from most. He looked natural, approachable, cultured in a simple sort of way. He looked like a boy with good stories to share. Nothing like a shinobi, secretive, calculative, rigid.. Sumoki hated the fact that pretty soon he'd have to trade in those warm and gentle tones for something better suited for the path he'd chosen.

Haro suddenly clasped his hands together, breaking her from her musing. A plume of clouds appeared beside him, and it quickly evaporated to reveal a lump trembling on the forest floor.

"Oh God! What Is _**That**_?!" Haro yelped, drawing up one leg as if he feared the creature might glop onto his toes.

Sumoki erupted into giggles, rolling around in the grass.

"That's the worst one yet!" She snorted. "It looks like a wad of gum! But, look it has your hair, I think!"

It was a gelatinous pink blob that could only be described as a teratoma tumor with a yucky mess of long dark hair covering its hellish form.

By the grace of the gods it disappeared almost as quickly as it had come, and Haro met Sumoki's gaze, his mismatched eyes wide with shock.

"I'm glad your enjoying yourself.." He exclaimed, letting a faint smile spread across his lips, "But, you know you'll never get into the Chunin exams without me, so..."

"Yeah, yeah. Lemme see.." Sumoki rose from the grass and sauntered up to him. She took his hands, unaware that he was watching her face instead.

She wove her slender fingers around his, bending them into the proper signals.

"Tiger, Boar, Ox, Dog...see...?" Sumoki glanced up, and surprised herself by how closely she'd stood beside him. He was starring at her, and only inches away, wearing an expression that looked oblivious to the lesson she'd just re-taught him. Sumoki blushed and shook her head.

"You have no idea what I just said, do you..?"

"Show me again." He asked warmly, staring into her eyes without shame.

"Then pay attention!" She scolded, and her blush deepened to an impossibly torrid shade of red beneath his unwavering gaze.

After a moment of deliberation Haro obeyed and smiled down at their hands.

"Tiger, Boar, Ox, Dog. Got it." He repeated.

Sumoki returned to her spot in the grass, trying to ignore her racing heart. Haro wasn't like the other boys her age. His way of flirting wasn't juvenile pranks, or crass teasing. He didn't throw wads of paper down shirts or come up with back handed ways to give compliments rolled inside petty insults to shield the young male ego from a possible rejection. No. Haro was another kind. Too mature to be so young. Not a single gesture or gaze was ever anything but genuine, and it was enough to melt her into a puddle if she wasn't careful.

Haro tried again, taking care with each sign, and as the next cloud appeared they found in its wake a second Haro, the perfect twin, mirroring his anatomy, position and astounded facial expression down to the very last hair.

"Woah!" The Haro's cried in unison, before the clone burst into nothing beside him. Sumoki leaped from the grass and threw her arms around his shoulders without thinking.

"You did it, you dummy! You did it!"

…

Haro sat himself at a desk inside the empty classroom with the exam before him. He admittedly felt a bit nervous. Iruka sensai was sitting behind his own desk at the front of the room, trifling through papers, there to monitor the exam to be sure he didn't cheat.

Haro perused the test questions before lifting his pencil, relieved to find that his studies had certainly paid off. He began jotting down his answers, and circling multiple choice letters that corresponded correctly. Haro knew that he'd inherited his fathers intellect. His mother had reminded him to be thankful for it on numerous occasions. But, without Sumoki's stringent study regimen, he knew that he never would have passed. And, this time around, the answers were coming to him in waves, mingling with other images that made his belly warm.

" _Physics. The line or curve described by an object, in this case a senbon needle, on a curve that passes through a given set of points...aka your face if you don't focus your pervy eyes back on the reading material.." his pretty tutor scolded after Haro had been watching her read from a textbook, only for Sumoki to realize that he had been starring at her the entire time instead of following along in his own. She sounded irked but a twitch of a smile beneath a blush suggested something less harsh._

She was always like that. Jagged and dangerous in temperament. Not to mention, flippant, and somewhat duplicitous. He'd grown quite fond of her thorny disposition.

Haro turned in the exam far sooner than Iruka had thought possible.

"Done already?" The sensai gawked while glancing at the clock. "We'll alright, now for the final portion of the test.."

…

"So, Haro's exam was this afternoon."

"I know... Have you heard from Sumoki yet? I assumed she'd be the first to know if he passed or not." Mae asked Kakashi as they strolled back from the Ramen Bar toward her house.

"No, I haven't seen her. I wouldn't worry, though. Those two have been studying all day long for weeks."

It was true. Haro had been a ghost lately, floating out in the morning, and back in at sunset looking like a hazy fool with that slushy little smile on his face. She was beginning to wonder what kind of "studying" they were up to.

Aside from her suspicions, Mae was feeling a little lonely too. Kakashi had helped that a bit, their acquaintanceship quickly morphing into some what of a friendship that held a strict tradition of food and alcohol within its contract. She liked Kakashi. He was straightforward, and had a sense of humor that could handle her often burdensome negativity. The pairing came naturally for the two of them. But her blossoming understanding of free food and shots didn't help to make her empty home any less desolate. After work she'd drag herself back to her freehold catacomb and plop down on the floor near the kitchen sink and just listen to the void. Pipes dripping, roof creaking. Wind outside rattling the windowpanes. No music. No Haro. It wouldn't take but five minutes of the niggling silence to send her crashing out the front door to find her grizzled drinking buddy to help wash away all human feelings.

"I was holding off buying furniture in the hopes that Haro would change his mind about all this, but It looks like I better buy some chairs for that damn table..." Mae sighed heavily, forcing her springy mane of curls back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck.

"You still haven't furnished the house? No wonder you're always asking me to the bars...and not paying for your own drinks."

"I have money!" Mae spat back at the grinning Shinobi. "but why spend mine when I can spend yours?"

"The mantra of many a woman in my company.." Kakashi chirped with a light chuckle. "They hear that I'm retired, and come to help lighten my pockets. Little do they know my daughters already emptied them, and now I've got a leech of a single mother bringing out the alcoholic in me. I'm so happy to have met you, Mae." He added with a sarcastic flourish that still somehow seemed gentle and kind in comparison to her own gloomy retorts. "Now when I go out the local women assume I'm spoken for, so thanks for that too."

"I'm sorry to have corked your virile manhood, however dwindling I can only assume it might be at 50-"

"I'm 48 thank you very much." Kakashi interjected as though it made a magnitude of difference. "And, I'll have you know, I'm as virile as I've ever been. Just ask the librarian's daughter, or the new barista at the coffee shop-"

" _Kakashi Hatake_!" Mae scolded in a very motherly fashion that surprised both of them. "She's only _Nineteen_!"

"Thank the Gods!" Kakashi roared with a guttural sigh of relief "I thought you were going to say seventeen.."

"You're detestable." Mae spurned while scrunching up her nose at him as if he smelled.

"Maybe so. At least I don't sell vegetables along side my body under the reign of the worlds only living fossil." He shrugged matter o' factly as they rounded the corner.

Mae rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively in the air. "I sell herbs. The closest comparison would be tuberous plants, and as for the prostitution jab, that's all some strange and disturbing dementia inspired fantasy of Mimi's that I really can't fathom, and honestly don't want to. Though, I do wonder if any of the girls ever have.." Mae meandered aloud. "That old toad's incentives are pretty slick. Quarter pay raise for photographic evidence. Double pay for a "home video", and extra work breaks if said video includes audio."

Kakashi glanced down his nose at her. She couldn't see the devilish smirk beneath his mask, but she knew it was there.

"I'm sorry all the camcorders are busted. As soon as I stumble across one that works I'll let you know. Hell, if I'm feeling generous I may even help you earn that pay raise." The silver fox offered with a wink.

"Make sure to ask your doctor if you're still healthy enough for sexual activity." Mae retorted helpfully without skipping a beat. "I'll be sure to leave a glass of bubbly water on the nightstand to soak your dentures in when were done."

Kakashi grumbled and seemed to bite his lip. "You are a terrible person, you know that?"

"You're right. Bubbly water is too acidic. I'll get some soaking solution, special just for you." Mae sang gleefully, offering him a sugar sweet smile.

"I'm not old..." Kakashi hissed before closing his eyes to swallow down his chagrin. When he opened them again he glanced down at Mae and noticed her impish grin, and groaned bitterly.

"You've got another slight to share...?"

Mae giggled as she slapped a tiny hand up onto his shoulder. "It was just something about erectile dysfunction but I get the sense that if I keep this up your not paying for my drinks anymore."

Kakashi smirked, "You're a big girl. Buy you're own damn drinks."

As the two of them neared Mae's house, the familiar sound of music found them. It hummed over rooftops and fluttered through tree canopies, coiling like heaven through the air. A heaven that Mae had known well. The drum beat was fast and crisp, and it sent Mae sprinting down the road toward home as fast as she could. Kakashi followed after her.

She flung open the sliding back door to find Haro sitting cross-legged on the table, his hang drum between his knees, thrumming away as always. Haro didn't seem to notice them standing there in the doorway, or maybe he did notice, and was too wrapped in his music to care. Mae had always adored her son's wild songs. Like the winds, and mountains, and rivers had lent him their rhythms in passing on those trails they'd traveled.

"Well, he must have passed." Kakashi noted merrily from behind Mae's shoulder as the exotic drum beat elevated in tempo in accordance to Haro's happy smile. "He's good too!" Kakashi added cheerily, "You guys must have done well in your previous profession."

Mae smiled thoughtfully with a weight on her heart as she watched her son manipulate the instrument into a joyful fever of rhythm with swift and practiced hands.

"Yeah..." She offered softly. Moments like these were few and far between now, this part of their life that she'd cherished so much swiftly becoming memory. In her heart of hearts Mae had hoped that he would fail the exam. Perhaps that were selfish, but in this case selfish was also safe. He was a genin now. A killer in training... Mae's stomach tangled into knots as she tried to swallow, taking in the last of the past that played before her.

"Yeah...we had fun..."

…

 _Author's note: I don't know how all of you feel about this chapter, but I apologize if you found it underwhelming lol I sort of did, but it's just one of those chapters that has to happen to keep the facts and time line straight after all the jumping around. I guess it helped show the shift in relationships and what not, too. I also recently realized I never really described Haro's appearance aside from comparing him to Neji, and I wanted to portray a clearer picture. Anyways! It took me waaay to long to post this considering I usually post every few days, so, sorry for that too!_

 _The next chapter will be, hopefully, much more interesting. We shall see!_

 _P.S. If you don't know what a hang drum is, youtube it. You wont be disappointed. I think it's fucking rad! Adrian Portia is quite possibly the best!_

 _Thank you so much all you beautiful readers! You're comments always give me warm fuzzys and are so very much appreciated!_

 _Until next time!_


	22. Chapter 22

It was Haro's first official day of training, and judging by the way Hakaru had made it sound, the new recruit had quite a bit of catching up to do. Haro had tried to wriggle past his mother that morning, but she, being the woman that she was, had insisted on accompanying him to the training field so that she could see for herself _"this Gakuto sensai_."

They headed through town at a leisurely pace that was very much forced. Inside, Haro's heart was racing, and butterflies batted at his ribcage, and he was sure that nothing could spoil the anticipation and excitement he felt. That was, until he began to notice the morning market crowd eying them up as they passed by. Actually, it wasn't so much the prodigal son they were noticing, but more, his widowed mother that was catching all the attention. Particularly, the attention of men, young and old alike. All of this was an observation that poisoned the butterflies in Haro's stomach and made him feel a bit ill.

It was no secret that his mother was beautiful. She'd been a geisha after all, and not only for her vocal talent. She looked perpetually young, and quite unique. There certainly weren't many dark skinned people in the fire nation for whatever reason, and the thick and voluptuous cascade of rich lively curls that hung low to her mid back seemed to give the impression of someone sweet and approachable. Those who misread the baby doll curlycue's quickly found that impression to be very misleading.

She'd never had a boyfriend that he'd known of, and for that, Haro felt both guilty and relieved. Since they were always on the road Mae had never really had the chance to try and date, but now they were residents, and that prospect was settling into Haro's head, and he found that he really didn't care for it. Now she'd be able to get a boyfriend if she wanted one, and judging by all the looks, it wouldn't take much searching to find eager candidates. In fact, it appeared as though they'd need to buy a ticket dispenser so that single hopefuls could start taking numbers.

"Excuse me, Miss!" Mae and Haro spun around to find a man in an apron who'd just come out from behind his takoyaki booth. He had a little tray of samples, and a goony smile that made Haro want to barf.

"I'm so sorry to bother you, but you see I've just been tinkering around with some new recipes, and when I saw you walk by. Well, I really hoped you might try it..?"

Haro looked to his mother and was alarmed by the smile that lit up her face. She took a sample and popped it in her mouth and started kindly sharing her praise, to which the man gushed, lapping up her every word like a dog would a soup bowl.

Haro grumbled as the two of them discussed the tweaks he'd made to his dish, until the newly appointed genin lost patience and grabbed up the rest of the samples on the platter to cram them into his mouth. All seven of them. Toothpicks and all. Animalistic chewing sounds came sarcastically from Haro as he gave the man an empty looking gesture of approval before snagging his mother by the arm.

"Haro! That was very rude!" Mae scolded, though it seemed she were trying to suppress a giggle.

"Sorry, Ama. I don't want to be late." Haro explained as he flicked a toothpick from his mouth.

"Yeah, yeah...that takoyaki though...it was pretty good wasn't it.?" Mae teased, nudging him with her elbow.

 _It was fucking delicious_. But Haro wasn't about to admit it. It would have to be a lot better than that if that sticky little food stand jerk had any hope to date his Ama.

"Oh, by the way." Mae began as she reached into her satchel for her wallet. Haro hadn't noticed until now that his mother had bought a new dress. It was a mid thigh sun dress, almost blindingly white in the sun, with lots of crochet embroidery, and not enough neck or sleeve for his comfort. Haro decided that she was showing waaaaay too much skin to walk back into town by herself.

"Did you bring a jacket?" Haro inquired clunkyly. The odd request made Mae pause.

"Why would I bring a jacket? It's a beautiful day..?"

It was quite a beautiful day, about 80 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. Haro bit into his cheek, internally cursing the weather.

"Anyways, here." Mae handed him a thick wad of cash that momentarily distracted him from his irritation. "It's for after practice. Kakashi says you'll need gear and stuff. Let Sumoki help you pick out...all the..uh...weapons and stuff...I'm sure she knows her way around all that."

Haro baffled down at the money. There was a lot there and surely he wouldn't need all of it.

"Thanks Ama. I'll bring you the change."

"Meh.." Mae waved her hand nonchalantly, "I suggest you buy little miss busybody something nice. She'll like that."

Haro started to ignite from the blush that flashed instantly across his cheeks.

"What? It's obvious you like her. Blind, deaf, and dumb and I'd still be able to tell." Mae teased, tousling her son's hair as he sulked down the road beneath the weight of his embarrassment.

.

When they reached the proper training field the presence of his mother started to make his heart sink a little in his chest. He wasn't usually embarrassed by her, but on a training field with his new Sensai and team, having his mom there to drop him off like it was daycare wasn't exactly the first impression he wanted to give.

Mae wasn't at all aware of his shame. Instead she was fixated on a mountain as they approached Sumoki and the others. A mountain that she was stunned to realize was no mountain at all, but a massive, burly man.

"So, the twerp's finally here.." The brute grumbled with such a low baritone that it raised the hairs on Mae's neck. Gakuto sensai then turned his attention to Mae, his deep bronze eyes, dull and underwhelmed, suddenly glinting to life.

"You brought your sister?" He asked Haro, though not really asking him at all.

"I, uh...I'm his-"

"That's his mom Pervy Sensai." Sumoki boldly interrupted Mae to clarify. _Leave it to Sumoki to insult a deadly giant without a single shred of fear._

"what are you..?" Mae asked mutedly. She'd meant to say _Who_ in the place of _What_ , but standing in the cold shadow of his towering frame, both seemed to be fitting questions.

The man leaned down close to her. His shoulders were so broad and inhumanly mesomorphic that it felt as though she'd been caught in their gravitational pull. His five o' clock shadow was almost as thick and rough as his voice as he said shamelessly,

"The best night of your life, sweetheart."

Mae couldn't contain the mousy squeak that escaped from her pursed lips. Knowing that she didn't have the proper health insurance that would likely be required to survive a night with him, she tried to find her voice as she looked to Haro.

"Be home for dinner.." She whispered oddly as she motioned to leave, but she paused as a terrifying possibility weighted her to the ground. Mae turned her timid eyes back up to the beast of a man who stood with a proud smirk.

"not you..." Mae clarified nervously, making sure to leave no room for misunderstanding. She then shrank beneath his gaze and scampered away as quickly as was physically possible.

"Why does everyone keep hitting on my mom!" Haro growled as the team watched her hurry off toward the village.

Hakaru stood beside him and laced his fingers casually behind his head and exclaimed,"Duh dude, your mom's a total MILF...uh...heh heh.." Hakaru chuckled nervously, realizing his mistake just a moment to late as Haro slowly faced him with death in his eyes.

"Seriously, Hakaru..." Sumoki sighed while shaking her head in downtrodden disbelief "You're such an idiot."

Hakaru just chuckled again as he tried to avoid Haro's hypodermic glare.

Sumoki, then pulled her mask up over her nose in preparation as Gakuto was about to speak. Haro noticed she only wore it when she was intelligence gathering, traveling, or training. When they were just strolling around the village it hung loose around her neck. Apparently she didn't share her fathers strict preference for anonymity.

"Well, you've got a lot of hard work ahead of you kid, so why not just dig right in, eh?" Gakuto grumbled giving his knuckles a good cracking after finally peeling his gaze from Mae's backside.

"The Chunin exams are only three months away, and if you'd prefer to stay alive you'll need to rely on your team members. I'm damn good at what I do, but three months ain't shit, and I'm not a fuckin' miracle worker. So, Sumoki, Hakaru." The grizzly of a man nodded to his students and as if a switch had been flipped, the pair rounded on Haro like dogs. Sumoki gave him another heart attack strike to the chest that, needless to say, perked up his senses right away. He dodged her next few strikes, wondering where Hakaru might be hiding, until that was answered by a forceful chop to the back of the neck. Haro turned on his heel after charging Sumoki enough for her to take a few strides back. And then, to everyones surprise, Haro turned and landed Hakaru a civilian punch to the face that incited a deep chuckle from their sensai.

"What the Hell, Man!" Hakaru protested, rubbing his jaw.

"That's for what you said about my mom!" Haro declared as he shook out his fist. Sumoki had stopped her attack to clutch her stomach from laughing so hard.

"He punched you in the face!" She roared. "You stupid idiot! You-!-He just-He Punched You In The Face!?"

"Hardy har..." Hakaru bid sarcastically as he took a stance until a sharp look from Gakuto caught the groups attention. Hakaru and Sumoki gave their sensai a nod, before they disappeared from view in a strange blur.

"Shunshin no Jutsu." Gakuto sensai explained in response to the look of bewilderment on Haro's face. "You wanna get somewhere fast, or loose a tail, that's one basic way to do it."

"Too bad it doesn't work on Hakaru!" Sumoki chided from somewhere out of view.

 **"I Do Not Have a Tail!** " He shrieked back from the opposite direction in the trees.

"Both of you Shut the Hell Up!" Gakuto bellowed. "Initiate this little bastard, before I do."

Haro rolled his eyes and growled. "So, there just going to beat my ass again!?"

Gakuto smiled, "Only if you let em' kid."

No sooner had the man finished his sentence, Hakaru had materialized behind Haro and grabbed him around the neck with his forearm. Haro knew that, so long as weapons weren't involved, Hakaru wasn't much of a threat since his gentle fist technique actually helped him instead of hindered him, so Haro decided as he reached around and flung himself from the boys grip that this was definitely a ruse. Sumoki was lurking somewhere waiting to execute.

"Shit, shit, shit...horse, tiger, boar, hare, rat, dog...wait! Or was it dog rat..no no rat, dog, horse, dog..."

Gakuto and Hakaru didn't bother to hide their amusement as they watched Haro fumble loudly with his hands in an attempt to activate his Byakugan.

"We went over this yesterday, dude! Come on!" Hakaru laughed loudly. Their exasperating joy was distracting. So distracting in fact that Haro didn't notice Sumoki as she leaped down from a tree to pin his chest beneath her knees. He hit the ground sickeningly hard and it left him flat on his back sucking air as the other three chuckled over him.

"What's wrong, Haro? Cat got your tongue?" Sumoki jeered, still crouching on his collarbones.

"No-There's-one sitting-on my Chest.." Haro managed to grunt, his smile showing grit teeth.

She jumped up and took his hand and flung him up out of the grass.

"So, you're essentially useless in combat so far. That's good to know. But...that thing..that..what have you been calling it?" Gakuto asked casually as he snapped his beefy fingers at Hakaru.

"Tampon no Jutsu" Hakaru asserted with a dead-straight face.

"Wait, _**WHAT?!**_ " Haro roared disapprovingly as a hot angry blush heated his entire body.

"You're absorbant." Hakaru explained with a shrug. "It was the first thing that came to mind."

"Yeah..." Gakuto sensai winced, sucking in air through his teeth. "It's not great. You'll have to come up with a better name..regardless, that skill is going to save your life, kid. If you get stronger the more hits you take from a Hyuga then imagine what you could do if you weren't completely useless. Hell, imagine what you could do if you were good."

Sumoki smiled at Haro, giving him a reassuring slap on the shoulder.

"Don't worry Gakuto Sensai, we're not going to let him go to waste."

Haro gave her a half smile in return before Gakuto interjected.

"You're damn right were not. Now Hakaru, show the twerp how to activate that half assed Byakugan of his."

..

Haro hadn't had time after practice to get to the shops. It was well past nine when he'd drug himself home feeling more or less battered to bits. For an instant he allowed himself to wonder if it was all for her that he endured. Why else would he agree to getting pulverized.

She always laughed. At him. With him. It didn't matter. The world seemed warmer when she laughed.

Haro groaned at his thoughts, waving a floppy hand at his mother, who watched him drag his aching joints up the stairs with her arms crossed over her chest.

It _was_ for Sumoki, in a small sense. More than it was for himself, during certain points of that day. Haro flinched internally realizing how twisted you'd have to be to welcome the possibility of dying via manslaughter just to hear your crush laugh...just to hear _her_ laugh...

... _Was he sick_..?


	23. Chapter 23

_He pulled her through the door of the empty studio apartment with the enthusiasm of a newly wed, leaving the key in the keyhole, nearly forgetting to kick the door closed behind them before wedging her against the wall. He hoisted her legs up around his waist and pressed harshly against her._

 _Even in an intimate setting he didn't speak much. Mae didn't mind. Neji was tantric, and she was swept up in it, devoid of her better judgment. Just entirely given over to his rather forceful appetite._

 _Their two day walk from Konoha (after he'd practically thrown her over the village wall to evade the watchful shinobi on gate duty) had left Mae rather sore, and it wasn't from hitting the ground on the other side, or muscle fatigue from walking, either. Neji was insatiable. Never wasting opportunities to tear her from her clothes. It was a fervent enthusiasm that she never in a million years would have expected from such a stoic and dispassionate man._

 _Neji trailed his lips across her neck hunting for the best place to bite._

 _"There's no furniture..." Mae noted aloud through catches of breath as he nipped at her skin with his canines. "and the floor is dirty.."_

 _"I'll buy you furniture." Neji answered in a rush. Anything to keep her present in the moment._

 _"So, you're my sugar daddy now?" Mae teased._

 _"You'll get a job if you intend to keep this place." Neji instructed flatly. It was sort of funny in a way, but he really wasn't joking._

 _"Of course I will. It was a loan, remember? It was degrading enough watching you fork over that down payment. However, it was very generous for a Misogynist.."_

 _Neji scowled. "I'm still undecided on weather or not you'll actually pay me back. You're too proud to accept a hand out, but your contempt for me might trump that pride of yours." He added, punctuating his pointed observation with a sharp bite to the jugular before wandering across her collarbones._

 _"In a way, though, I'm already paying you back.." She retorted through a soft gasp._

 _"And how is that?"_

 _"A blow job is still a job.." Mae joked crassly, giggling when she'd finally elicited a smile from him._

 _"That's not very lady-like..." Neji purred as his pallid eyes searched her face with a challenging expression. He suddenly stepped back and shifted her weight off from the wall into his arms before propping her on the kitchen sink. He grabbed a fistful of her curls and yanked it sharply to tilt her face up to his._

 _Mae let out an involuntary yelp, then smiled._ _"You're kind of rough, you know...it's almost like you're taking all that psychopathic crazy out on me.."_

 _Neji smirked, curling his fingers tighter into her hair until she winced._

 _"Watch that smart mouth of yours." He warned. "You're in a rather vulnerable position after all..."_

 _Mae glanced down at him between her legs, the waist to his pants holding dangerously low, clinging for dear life to sharp obliques. The heat from his body bristled her tender skin. She'd had panties under this dress once. Who could know where he'd left them along the way._

 _"I thought I already told you I'm not afraid of you..."Mae asserted, reaching up to tangle her fingers into his own thick locks. "So, why don't you put your smart mouth to use.."_

 _She pulled on his hair, and he willingly let her guide him to his knees before disappearing between her legs. Mae tried to keep from tumbling off the counter top or falling back into the empty sink, but Neji's rapacious hunger was inspiring the best kind of body spasms. She knew she was making quite a ruckus, but it seemed like he wanted the neighbors to know. Perhaps, a wordless declaration of sorts, so that in his absence not a one in the neighborhood would question the availability of the new girl next door._

 _Neji was older than she was by three years, and based off of his skilled tongue, Mae was certain she wasn't his first indulgence._

 _"Wait..!" Mae cried through breaths, her thighs burning from uncontrollable quakes. Neji didn't wait. He dug in harder, lapping at her skin until her moaning echoed down the halls._

 _"Neji-wait! I'm going to-!"_

..

Mae woke up breathing hard, a sheen of sweat sewing her sheets to her feverish skin. There was a humming pulse inside of her that the wet dream had inspired...well, more of a memory, really. It had been exactly as she had recalled it to be. Those few days after their escape from Konoha in the sweltering heat of a particularly humid summer weekend, had been nothing but a constant intermingling of sweaty limbs and friction burns. Such desperate enrapture that she couldn't recall the two of them ever stopping to eat. Mae admitted to herself that Haro wasn't a complete surprise. In fact, winding up not pregnant would have been more of a shock to her. A sudden memory flashed to mind that made her wince into her pillow.

 _"Hey, I came back for you, didn't I?" Neji reasoned wearing his usual smirk. Mae was on a tirade about him delivering her to the tea house, only for him to turn back around and change his mind, anyway._

 _"Yeah, after I WAS ALREADY GONE! You just couldn't stand a smudge on that "pristine resume" could you!?" she spat venomously, winding up to strike his jaw._

 _Neji caught her gently by the wrist and to Mae's bewilderment he just smiled at her. It was a beautiful smile. One she hadn't seen before._

 _"I suppose this was quite the win/win for me." he admitted with an uncharacteristically warm laugh. "I wont take so long coming back for you next time.._

 _I promise..."_

Mae scrambled out of bed hoping to outrun her own tribulation. She scurried to her closet and dressed for work, slipping on one of her socks inside-out then deciding that there wasn't enough time to fix it, she bounded down the stairs. The night before, Haro had said he was leaving early before practice to get supplies with Sumoki. The house was empty, and quiet, and that was dangerous. If she left fast enough- Mae nicked her hip bone on the giant kitchen table as she lurched for the door in her haphazard work uniform, and disheveled bed-head. She hissed, clutching at the throb while hobbling out onto the road, slamming the door behind her. Tears brimmed in her eyes as she met the bright morning light, and it wasn't from blinding sunshine, or the pain in her hip. It was the realization of knowing that she couldn't outrun her own heart.

That stupid bastard just had to turn around. He just had to come back for her when she was certain he'd made his choice. He was so harshly kind. So set in his ways, but so very real to her. That Jackass just had to have that smirk, that smile, and those eyes, and he just had to use them against her to get her to.. _.to get her to_...

Mae was in love with a dead man.

She would always hate him for that.

…

Haro met Sumoki at the memorial fountain near the main market. At one time the statue of a willow tree poised in the center of its crystalline pond had trickled with running water, but ever since the black out its stone branches had been bone dry. There was scarcely a ripple on its glassy face aside from the occasional leaf floating down from above, or a coy coming to break the surface with pastel orange scales.

He hadn't had time to shop for gear after practice the night before because Gakuto Sensai had added one of his, apparently, _famous surprise genjutsu interrogation "seminars"_ that, if it weren't for Haro's pride in the presence of his crush, he would have totally shit his pants. Gakuto was an integral member of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force, and after enduring the illusion of his Sensai locking the three of them in musty cells to berate the living hell out of them until Haro forgot the meaning of life, it had become quite clear that the man had a knack for it. His presence alone was threatening enough for an average man to martyr their own mother.

Haro noticed the poultice on Sumoki's arm as he approached, and it gave an answer to her sluggish smile.

"Hey Dummy. Lovely morning isn't it?" she asked through a loud yawn.

"Sure is. So, what's on the menu today?" Haro inquired, gesturing to the poultice that looked like a teabag cinched to her bicep. "And, wow look at you! You finally decided to wear something suitable for the weather."He added, taking notice of her tight spandex beater over somehow tighter leggings. All mute gray and black of course, for, some things never change.

"In reverse order, It's hot as fuck out here, and this is a dandy little concoction of Nerium Oleander and Diffenbachia...so if I slur at all today, thats going to be why. You know, it's weird. The Oleander is one thing. You feel it right in here.." Sumoki knocked her knuckles against her chest plate. "But the Dumb Cane...you jus don't get used to it. It's heavy.."

Haro cocked a brow and let a cautious smile take his lips.

"You gonna be alright today?"

"Oh yeeaah. I'm like totally good, no worries.." She sighed from the clouds as she floated on down the road beside him. "So, Haro. How much moolah yo mama give us to work with?"

Haro reached into his pocket and pulled out the wad of cash Mae had given him the day before and the lofty fog in Sumoki's eyes momentarily cleared.

"Holy shit! That's a lot of money!"

"Yeah." Haro shrugged. "I think some of it's Hinata sama's. Ama was super serious about paying her back at first, and pretty mad too, but now it seems like she doesn't care much anymore." Haro explained, a twinge of inquisition finding its way into his tone. "She's drinking more than usual, too...Yesterday she brought home dinner. It was half an eggroll and three bottles of wine..."

"Maybe my dad's having a bad influence on her." Sumoki suggested. "I guess their like, _friends_ now or something."

Haro began to wonder if there was anything to that new "friendship" that he should be weary of, but Sumoki accidentally stepping sideways into his path and tripping on her own toes broke his train of thought.

"Are you sure you're alright, Sumoki?" Haro asked anxiously as he caught her by the elbows to re-steady her.

Sumoki just giggled like a drunk. "Yeah! Sorry, It's always a little strong at first."

Haro studied the poultice. It was a bit wet and in the cloth he could see crimson stains of her blood oozing into the herbs within.

"Why administer it this way? Why not eat it?" Haro asked, fighting to keep himself from sounding too worried.

"Sometimes I do. Almost all plant toxins are designed to be eaten so they're most effective for me to use this way. Plus, on a battlefield it's extremely unlikely that the enemy's going to roll out a dinner spread. By squishing it into a laceration I'm absorbing it in the same fashion I would in a fight."

"I guess that makes sense.." Haro shrugged.

Sumoki then gave a naughty grin. "And...If we're being totally honest with each other now...I may or may not have eaten the tiniest, most insignificant, and socially acceptable amount of Papaver Somniferum, that I may or may not have prepared...with the intention of feeling as awesome as I do right now...maybe.."

Haro laughed a bit and raised a brow. "So you're high? Is that what you're telling me?"

"Yes. Yes, I very much am."

"Shit. Maybe I should do some immunity training with you." Haro added with a chuckle, but he was a bit confused as he watched her goofy expression settle into a sad smile as her eyes faded to gray.

"Nah... You wont need it with me there to block all your incoming hits, you dummy..." She said almost warmly, but those eyes never came back from that distant fog. "Now, lets go get you something to put some space between your dud arms and all those trained killers, shall we?"

Sumoki lead him to a weapon's shop near the center of the village. There wasn't a single sign or title bearing a name to indicate that it was a shop at all, but Sumoki stepped through the door seeming comfortably certain. Sure enough, inside on every counter top and table, within every display case and wall mount poised weapons of every definition, derived from every culture and continent like some kind of deadly museum.

"You'll literally need a ton of these." Sumoki began as she perused past a hook on the wall with cinched bundles of kunai hanging like fruit form the rod.

"I'm not good with blades..or blunt objects..or weapons in general." Haro explained, barely able to hide the nervous flutter in his voice.

"Have you ever tried?" Sumoki chirped, glancing over her shoulder at him with a cute smile.

"Well, no. But, there's a reason for that.."

"Well that reason's moot now, you'll need these too." She thrust a small wooden box of senbon needles into his hands along with a few of the leather bound bundles of kunai. "I'll even show you how to sharpen them since I'm such a nice lady."

Haro smiled, allowing the prospect of spending more time with her to distract him from feeling as out of place in the weapons shop as he did. It smelled like iron and saw dust inside. It was a plywood room appearing contentedly underdeveloped, its entirety reminding him of a tool shed wall. The big bay windows at its front let in so much light that the whole room glowed as orange as the surrounding particle board.

There was a counter made of unfinished wood at the back of the store with a tack board behind it on the wall that was littered with photographs. One person in particular was present in nearly all the pictures, a woman with dark pigtail buns and chocolate colored eyes. Haro stepped closer as he recognized a few faces. There was Sakura and the pigtail bun woman beside another attractive blond with a long pony tail and wide baby blues. They were all crowded around Hinata sama looking stunning on her wedding day. There was another hilarious photograph of a boy with bulging cheeks, red swirls painted to their mounds, choking on a mouthful of noodles while the long haired blond was administering to him what appeared to be an extremely violent Heimlich maneuver. Above it, another photo. A boy in a jumpsuit with a tacky bowl cut that did his marble-round eyes no favors stood beaming into the camera with two thumbs enthusiastically in the air, and above that picture...

Haro's heart spasmed for an instant as his father glared down at him. He stood to the far left in a photo of what must have been his team. The pigtail bun girl was in the center looking young and hopeful wedged between the bowl cut kid and Neji, who wore the faintest smirk that contrasted against the other optimistic and unreserved smiles. Above them towered a man who would have made one hell of a toothpaste ad, his teeth, even on paper, nearly caused Haro to wince beneath the blinding white.

The sound of a door opening drew Haro away from the photos as he found Sumoki's side. A woman came out from a back room. He'd expected to see her, having already deduced that the young Kunoichi in the photographs was likely the owner of the shop, but she certainly wasn't a little girl anymore. She was rather attractive in a hoiden sort of sense. She wore her buns braided now, and a white high collared quipo dress tucked into pink hakamas replaced her modest childhood garb, the slits giving a glimpse of fish net stockings stretched over her muscular thighs. She glanced at Sumoki and Haro for less than a second and said,

"Hey Sumoki, what's-" The woman trailed off as she did a double take that settled on Haro.

"Hey, TenTen. Guess you haven't met Haro yet. He's Neji's bastard son, emphasis on the bastard." Sumoki teased absentmindedly, as usual, lacking any semblance of manners, not even bothering to look up from a shelf of shuriken.

"Neji's son..." TenTen uttered softly, staring at Haro in a trance before she broke away and walked behind the counter to dig around.

"You were his team member?" Haro asked as he stepped forward a little. "It's nice to meet you."

The woman snapped upward over the counter to meet his gaze again. She looked a little shaken and Haro couldn't really place why.

Tenten starred him down. _Neji's son_. She'd heard about him from town gossip and knew that it was true, but finally meeting him was proving to be more disturbing than she'd anticipated. So many feelings came forth as she looked him over. He looked like him. His bone structure, that straight nose and pale skin. That same deep widows peak, except the brand... She'd never seen Neji's cursed seal mark. _Seeing this kid's felt oddly personal in a way._ Same eyes too, aside from the red one... _Must be his mothers_.. Tenten ducked beneath the counter again pretending to look for something as she mutter an inaudible response.

"He'll buy these." Sumoki said as she snatched the blades from Haro's grip and dropped them on the counter top. "We'll be back for more specific tools if he's any good with the basics...which..." Sumoki gave him a playful glance and shook her head. "We'll see."

Tenten took Haro's cash seeming almost rushed. As soon as she'd returned the proper change she disappeared into the back room without so much as farewell.

.

"She didn't seem to like me. Why would that be?" Haro wondered aloud as Sumoki lead him out the door toward another shop.

Sumoki shrugged. "How should I know?

Haro's eyes went wide and a broad smile spread across his face. "Really?! And here I thought you knew everything.."

Sumoki turned to him with a come hither smile and twirled a lock of his long hair around her finger, tugging it just slightly. Apparently her self medicating made her a lot more flirtatious then she normally was.

"You're cute." She giggled brightly, "And you're not wrong. I do know everything, so never forget it."

Haro went red and smiled uncontrollably as the flutter in his chest made him buzz.

He shook his head and chuckled. "Whatever you say, Momo Chan."

Sumoki smacked him on the back of the head as her cheeks burned up... but she smiled too.

..

The bell to the shop door sounded as the genin left, and Tenten immediately felt as though she could breath again. She stepped back onto the sale floor and glanced around at all the tools of her trade, but was unable to fall back into the familiar quiet that her place of business usually held.

When she had first seen Mae, she couldn't have dreamed that seeing Haro would be any more difficulty than that.

Tenten had been soaking alone in the bathhouse on a quiet weeknight, only a few others floating about, when the woman had walked into the steamy lantern light of the bagnio. Tenten had heard from Lee who had heard from Choji who'd heard from who knows, that Neji's long lost secret had surfaced, and that secret was painfully beautiful.

When Mae had dropped her towel on a chair and stepped into the water Tenten was certain she'd felt a few cardiac fibers tear apart in her chest.

Her shapely legs, and a pronounced thigh gap had actually been the first thing to strike her, looking so unfairly alluring that it could have dishearten the most confident of Jezebels. A delicate waist, nearly too delicate for such curving proportions, and breast that seemed immune to gravity, and the ravages of time. All wrapped in warm, dark skin that hoarded in the suns gleam and never let it go. She wasn't strong or built for a fight. She was simply aesthetic perfection. What was worse is that she had an air about her that would suggest she hadn't the slightest clue to how endowed she was.

Tenten had pondered a long while trying to dissect why he'd chosen a civilian. Perhaps it was simple. She was beautiful. Their child was a mere act of carelessness on his part. Neji was far too intelligent to tether his life to a woman whose only purpose was decorative. What good are curves if the mind that rules the body is useless? But, what if that weren't the case? What if she was much more than just a pretty face?

Or, perhaps she fit his standard of what a womans place was inside a family until. He had once believed that women didn't belong on the battlefront, and that they should stay within the home and tend to daily life. Raise the children, cook the meals, keep a tidy house. In fact, There were very few female exceptions within the Hyuga clan that strayed from that conventional view. Hinata and her little sister being among the dwindling female Hyuga Kunoichi to break that mold. Their birth right had given them the chance to do so, unlike other Hyuga girls whose gender stunted their ability to pursue any real aspiration outside the village, but, Surely even Hizashi wished he'd had a say in the chromosomal make-up of the Clan's Heiress.

Neji's upbringing had made him rather sexist. Just a product of his surroundings, but Tenten liked to think she'd broadened his view of women by proving she could be just as accomplished, and work just as hard as any man. Had Mae managed to do the same? Had she inspired him in some way? Had it been something beneath the curves that caught his eye?

Maybe Mae was a good mother? A good wife..? If he hadn't died..maybe he would have asked her to...

Tenten fought away those thoughts very regularly, settling with the only explanation her conscience could handle.

Mae was just a fling that bore him a son.

Finally seeing that son had broken pieces of her that Tenten had never imagined could break. How would Neji feel knowing his own child existed without him in this world, and looked damn near just like him? Would he be proud to know that his son was Genin now? Would he be glad for the woman he'd chosen to rear him?

 _Did he love her?_

It was impossible to say. The only thing Tenten knew with certainty was that deep inside, nestled into a forgotten corner of her soul, she wished that it would have been her.


	24. Chapter 24

Mae was disgusted with herself, and for more reasons than one. Not only had she spent the majority of her morning sauntering through the carpentry shop for household décor, bringing to life her personal nightmare of playing homemaker, but worse, she'd allowed herself a small sense of satisfaction from selecting complimentary colored upholstery. However, that hadn't been the only source for her self loathing. She'd also spent an equal amount of time admiring the carpenter shop owner, and his good-looking trio of employees with the same salacious perversions that old Mimi would have had at the sight of them.

Shingi was his name, and he owned the only furniture shop in the village, hand crafting all his works himself, with the help of his staff, which based on their playful and familiar banter and synonymous ages, they seemed to operate as close friends and not under a professional hierarchy.

Mae had heard from Hana at the greenhouse that Shingi's work was legendary. Renowned for his beautifully carved wardrobes, coffee tables, and step chests. She was right. Everything in the shop was a masterpiece, and after buying almost all of it for her far too spacious home with the hefty leftovers from Hinata's loan, Mae had received a generous discount and quite a few smiles.

Mae had watched them load up the transport cart with a careful delicacy that contradicted their rugged physiques. Shingi himself had even insisted helping to haul the merchandise across the village to Mae's house, and though Mae had protested with polite insistence, she certainly wasn't upset with the view.

Shingi had hair of the deepest pitch black she'd ever seen and he wore it loose to his shoulders. He would run it back with his rough hands every now and then, releasing the smell of cedar and hot pine sap from his mane. The handsome artisan collected his own lumber for his works, and Mae couldn't help but imagine what he must look like while chopping down a tree. He had farm hand skin... _and farm hand muscle, too_.. How those bulging biceps must ripple with every blow, with his powerful and practiced grip folded around the hard wooden handle of an axe. The grimace he might wear when the burn set in, white teeth grit, glowing against elm spattered skin. The grunt that escapes when the strike rumbles through his thick chest.. _.the sweat-_

"We can take it all into the house for you if you'd like?" Shinji offered, that pearly smile glowing against tan skin, and a clean cut beard.

"...hm..? Oh! No, that's alright! Just leave it here in the front yard. I've got a bit of cleaning to do, and my friend is finding some kids to move it all in for me, but thank you!" Mae explained, recovering from her salacious train of thought. She just couldn't help herself. Shingi was a walking cliché. Tall, dark, handsome, muscular, confident, accomplished, ect, ect...

"Alright, if you're sure, but.." The strapping carpenter came up to Mae, ignoring his friends, who were snickering and whistling at him. He handed her a small business card from the store and flipped it over. He'd written something in neat cursive. It was his home address.

"I'd give you my number, but since none of them work, here. Just in case you change your mind and want my help with anything." He winked, and Mae could almost feel her feet leave the ground when those green eyes did their tricks. Before he turned to leave she stammered.

"Wait! I forgot to tip you, here.." Mae handed him the money and he refused it with a smile.

"Don't worry about it. Consider it a favor." He chuckled as he walked toward the road with the others. "A sort of, welcome to the neighborhood kind of favor."

"But-I really-" She fumbled aloud, wishing he'd just take the money.

He glanced over his shoulder, the look in his eyes so very tempting.

"I'm a generous guy... So, make sure to hold onto that.." He suggested, glancing to the business card in her hand before giving up a devilish smile. He waved once and turned on his heel, joining the empty cart and his buddies. He laughed and shielded himself as one of his friends untied their leather apron and tried to snap him in the face with it.

Mae closed the door as reality crept in. Had that been a real invitation?

"I don't flirt?!" She told the entryway as she clutched her hair and the business card, groaning while sliding down the wall onto her butt. "I don't even _want_ to date...We'll, I'm pretty sure I don't."

On a normal day she would have instinctively precluded his flirting with the usual onslaught of bitchy retorts, but his boyish charm had carried her far beyond her character before she'd even realized it.

"He's pretty sexy though..." Mae admitted with a sigh as she rested her cheek on her hand and cocked her head, starring down the hall at nothing in particular.

"But" She groaned as she got to her feet. "sexual endeavors haven't ended well for me in the past."

Mae went to the counter in the kitchen where a big bottle of sake was waiting. She pulled out a glass and took a long gulp before she set to sweeping, and wiping, and dusting. Haro was at training as usual. It had been two weeks but she still wasn't used to the idea, and was beginning to realize that she most likely never would be.

Mae heard the sliding door to the patio open and turned as Kakashi let himself in without hesitation.

"How can you afford to have such good taste?" He asked, tilting his head toward the furniture outside.

"I paid a lot less for this house than I should have. Plus, Hinata sama tried to purchase my forgiveness, which you just can't buy. But! She bought me a nice set of mahogany chairs!" Mae joked dryly as she picked up her glass of wine to cheers the air before guzzling it down.

Kakashi poured himself a glass.

"So, did you find me some kiddo's to move it all inside for me?" Mae inquired, handing him the broom and dust pan with innocent doe eyes.

"Yes I did." Kakashi replied as he handed them back, unmoved by her attempt to get him to clean.

Mae gave him a glare and continued to sweep."And they'll be here..?"

"This afternoon."'

"How specific." She murmured. "You know, you were the one who insisted I let academy kids practice responsibility and charity and all that bullshit, so the least you could do is give me a time frame."

Kakashi just tugged down his mask to show his broad grin before taking a long sip from his glass. "This afternoon." He nearly sang once more.

...

Haro was dripping with sweat, really missing his old cotton tunic and how breathable it was. Shinobi wore way to many layers, with such heavy fabric, and the dark colors didn't help the situation, either. Sumoki had convinced him that he needed new attire.

Black trousers with lots of pockets. A skin tight, deep green elastic shirt with cropped sleeves just above the elbows with a, thankfully, loose black tank over top, and a sturdy pair of sandals. She'd even convinced him to get steel plate enforced fingerless gloves, saying that it helped with handling blades and preventing accidental nicks. She'd been right about that part, but half way through the day he'd unwound the forearm bandages so that he could feel what little of the breeze there was on his skin. Sumoki had protested when he'd taken them off, claiming that all the time she put into wrapping them for him had been wasted. Haro didn't think so. Her hands were pretty soft when they weren't looking to knock him on his ass.

They'd been instructed to continue practice and were left alone in the clearing to spar, and even though they were unsupervised, not a one of them broke from their determination to train.

"That was sloppy, Hakaru. You're leaving your left side open." Sumoki said from where she was watching, resting near to a tall pacay tree. When they were this deep into practice, when it became more of a mechanical rendition of consciousness than a group of kids brawling, there was no joking. It was over, and over, and over again, alternating until one opponent was spent, and after a short rest the other swapped with the next. A constant stream of hand signs, blade-less strikes, and emotionless, constructive observation.

"I'm done." Hakaru sighed, resting his hands on his knees and dipping his head, a drop of sweat falling from the tip of his nose.

Sumoki stood up and tugged up her mask. "Don't you need a rest, Haro?" She asked him, not a single sensation to her tone.

"I'm alright." He said, stretching his arm back with the other, then swinging them for blood flow. He _did_ need a rest, in fact, the creeping black in the corners of his eyes hinted that medical attention might not be such a bad idea, but he wasn't about to tell her that.

"You've got great endurance, and good chakra control. Gentle fist seems to come naturally to you." Hakaru offered while catching his breath in the grass. "Inactivate your byakugan, though. You're wasting energy."

Haro did as he was told and commanded for his Doujutsu to settle. Sumoki walked over to Hakaru and knelt beside him, realizing without words that he was a bit more spent than he'd intended to be. He wasn't using his own gentle fist technique after all, since such jutsu only served to charge Haro like some kind of anthropological battery.

"I can't see it, so show me where."

Hakaru gestured to his left rib, where Haro had landed a particularly concentrated hit, and Sumoki set herself to healing it. She wasn't aspiring to med-nin by any means, but knew very basic jutsu. Enough for superficial wounds.

"Did I hurt you?" Haro asked alarmed as he rushed to them.

Hakaru chuckled as Sumoki practiced her back-burner trade. "Don't feel bad for doing well." He exclaimed with a smile.

Hakaru stood after she was through and stretched a bit, testing her work, when Gakuto landed nearby with a heavy thud before he crossed the field.

"Alright, twerps. Now that you're good and tired, we've got a mission today. D-rank. So don't piss you're pants or anything."

Sumoki's eyes lit up and went out just as quickly, and watching it had made Hakaru laugh aloud.

"What's a D-rank mission?" Haro asked obliviously.

"It's basically running errands around the village, or beginner transport missions if your lucky, but it's probably just groceries." Hakaru explained.

"Actually, this one was specifically assigned to you by Kakashi Hatake." Their sensai bid matter of factly.

Sumoki pumped her fist in the air. "Yes! My dad would never assign me some kind of lame mission! I wonder what it is?!"

Gakuto chuckled and rolled his eyes, "You'll just have to go see for yourselves."

…

Mae was sweeping up the last of her dirt piles on the kitchen floor, listening to Kakashi hum into his Sake glass, when the sliding door opened. Haro walked in with his friends and Mae couldn't contain her smile.

"These are the kids, huh?"

"Hey, Ama!" Haro greeted happily. Sumoki stepped inside just behind him and bowed her head a bit, the gesture, as faint as it was, seeming much too polite in contrast to her usual manner.

"Hello, Mae san...and _you_.." She turned her pointed glare to her dad who was leaning against the kitchen table looking pleased with himself.

Hakaru came in next, and found Mae immediately.

"Hello, Mae sama." he greeted formally, respect oozing from his tone as he full on bowed to her. Haro tried to trip him with his heel and the two got into a puppy-like scuffle as Gakuto sensai darkened the door frame behind them with his abysmal silhouette.

Mae glanced at Kakashi as the room, to her, dropped fifteen degrees, but the ex-hokage looked oblivious to her fear. Now this man knew where she lived, and the prospect was extremely unsettling. The brutish sensai went to the counter without asking and poured himself a full glass, and raised it to her with a grunt and an unnerving smirk before downing it in one gulp.

"Knock it off." He then grumbled lowly, but his deep and rattling tone was enough for the boys to separate. "This may be your crib, twerp, but it's still a mission from the Hokage, so get your asses in gear."

The three began shuffling in and out, working together to maneuver the furniture in through the patio door, while Mae, Kakashi and Gakuto made themselves comfortable in her new living room set that she'd had them bring in first, for just that reason. The adults needed a good place to survey from. Mae couldn't stop glancing at Gakuto, who'd taken up the entire love seat that bowed beneath his weight. It would be a true test of Shingi's carpentry skills if the support beams beneath the padding held up.

"This is pretty nice." Mae sighed after a while, finally a bit more at ease in Gakuto sensai's company. She'd abandoned using glasses and was brandishing the bottle to and fro for them to share.

"Nothing like free child labor to make for a relaxing afternoon." Kakashi chuckled. "and, It's even better when it's your own brats doing it."

They glanced over toward the stairwell where team Gakuto was shouting loudly to one another, each having their own ideas as to how to lug a giant elmwood step chest around the curve in the landing.

"Don't scratch the paint with those edges!" Mae called to them. "I brought home Yakiniku for everyone, but I'll toss it if I find one little nick in these pristine walls." She was joking of course, but they didn't need to know that.

Haro was adorable, and Mae's inebriation made her notice and appreciate it more than usual. They'd carry in something for his bedroom and the first thing he would do was smile at her and say, "Ama, this is great! Thank you!" Mae was so busy admiring her sweet little man that she nearly missed the conversation between the Shinobi on her couch.

"Got a pretty good team this year, Kakashi." Gakuto admitted when the kids weren't in view. "I've been doing this a long time and I often had my doubts with at least one member, but Haro's been working hard, and he certainly isn't the weak link anymore. And then, I was worried for a while there...about Sumoki.."

Kakashi gave a nod, his eyes glued to his sake. "She's resilient."

"Yes. She is. Got a lot of try, that one. And Hakaru. I swear, you could stab that kid in the chest with a long sword and he'd just pull it out and send it right back at you with some smart ass retort." The men chuckled, but Mae was lost, stuck on what he'd said about Sumoki. She couldn't ponder it long for the three genin came in to report that there was nothing left to move. That was fine and well. The sun was on its way down, and Mae needed something to soak up some of the alcohol.

They all ate in the yard, friendly teasing and good hearted jokes going back and forth. In the center Mae sat in awe at where her life had ventured. She could never have imagined being here, surrounded by good people. It was a real wake up call that showed her what her fear had disallowed them for so long. The brand didn't seem so bad. It was still hard to look at from time to time, but Haro's hopeful eyes and beaming smile always reigned in her attention with ease. He was happy. And as it turned out, that was more than enough. If only in the quiet she could remain this content, but you just can't be drunk all the time.

.

Hakaru left after dinner, and shortly after so did Gakuto. Sumoki and Haro ditched their parents to their drunken banter and slipped out the door to walk around in the woods beyond his backyard. There was a little swamp there that the bull frogs liked, and the two of them sat together on a downed Sycamore, listening to the trills and ribbits meld into the songs of the crickets and hoppers. It was muggy, the moisture in the air settling on their skin, but Haro couldn't feel it. There was a phantom beside him, glowing like some kind of icy fairy in the deepening twilight, and she was stealing all of his attention.

"You're getting really good Haro. You gave Hakaru a real work out today."

Haro smiled at her, knowing that he should come up with some kind of a response, or at least say thanks, but he just wanted to listen. It had been a long day, and he was tired, and sitting so close to her on that soggy old dead fall made him wish he weren't so young. It would be nice to lay with her in a comfortable place for a while. When he'd let that thought sink in, a second wind coursed through his veins, running fast by the sudden jolt of his heart.

"I don't know if you can classify it as a kekkei genkai but between your byakugan, and that absorption ability, it's almost like you have two inherited kekkei.."

"That reminds me." Haro spoke up, leaving behind his longing. "Did you ever find out anything about my mom? You said a while back you were going to investigate her lack of chakra, but you haven't said a word about it since."

"Yeah, I looked into it." Sumoki replied softly. "It really seems like that's just the way she is. I even tried to find anything about bloodlines with unnaturally low chakra levels, and there's nothing on it in the library. And I mean, she seems healthy and all.. I asked my dad about it to, and he's never heard of it... The weird part is...I mean, if she were a normal person she'd be dead."

It was quiet a moment before she added. "Does she even know about it?"

Haro shook his head, watching the tip of his sandal dig into a patch of moss."No. I wanted to have Sakura look at her but she needed a hyuga med-nin to give her an assessment, and that was when I was still laying low. I haven't brought it up since...she's got so much on her mind it seems..." Haro trailed off letting the crickets call upon the lightning bugs that started to flicker up from the grass before he went on. "You know...when Kakashi's not around, and when she doesn't know I'm watching...she...she just sits there...drinking, saying nothing. Doing nothing. Its like she's gone in her head somewhere... She's happy for me and all, but being here...it hurt her. Becoming a shinobi hurt her, and sometimes I feel like I'm really selfish for that."

Sumoki was starring at him out of the corner of her eye, one leg pulled up to her chest, the other dangling over the side of the downed tree. Haro was starring at the ground, a distant frown on his face, that surely looked lighter than the thoughts themselves. She inched her foot over and pressed her ankle against his, and waited for him to look up. When he did she smiled and said,

"Don't be sad, Haro. It looks really ugly on you."

Haro couldn't help but laugh, and shake his head.

After a time they headed back to the house. They could see Kakashi and Mae flickering in the candle light just beyond the patio glass door. It was open, and they could hear them laughing together about something. The genin paused just outside and sat down in the dark to eavesdrop.

"It says a lot about me that it was one of my proudest moments!" Mae roared through her laughter. Kakashi was laughing pretty hard too, sounding loose through the alcohol.

"How much did you give him?"

"I don't know! I just crushed it into his ramed! But, it was enough for him to need to change his pants before coming after me!"

Another fit of laughter plaed out into the backyard from the open door before Kakashi managed to sputter,

"Gai sensei was his team leader and he's a good friend of mine, and I hope you know I'm telling him this story. Neji was such a reserved kid, always proper, though not always polite. To find out he literally had his shit handed to him by a civilian is just priceless!"

Haro and Sumoki looked to one another grinning at the sound of their parents acting so dumb. Haro liked it when Mae told stories about Neji. It wasn't always easy for her, but in the right setting sometimes she seemed a little lighter when she told them. Like bringing up his name made him some how less dead.

A sudden whirring sound buzzed into the air and Haro and Sumoki nearly jumped when the patio light above them flickered on with a sharp click. Their eyes went wide on each other, and they both snapped up and looked around. Mae and Kakashi were standing in the living room, too, in warm incandescent lighting, with eyes just as wide. Haro glanced down the street and he could see other houses windows glowing. Far off cheering sounded like some kind of mid summer holiday as families rejoiced the return of the electricity.

Kakashi held up his hands in bemused delight. "Shikamarou must have finally finished all his work, for once!"


	25. Chapter 25

Naruto sat at his desk in his office trying to appreciate the rare silence. The power was back on. Well, for the most part, and that was certainly something to celebrate. The numberless hours that Shikamarou, head of the re-building committee, had put in over the last month and a half had finally paid off, and the bitter Jounin hadn't spared a single person his complaints about how troublesome the endeavor had been.

Though things were looking up, the matter of what or whom had caused the outage in the first place was still keeping Naruto from a full nights rest. There had been no further reports of missing person's, but that was only minutely relieving since none of the bodies of the fifteen murdered civilians had been discovered. Naruto was still undecided on weather or not that was such a bad thing. Flayed corpses don't exactly bring piece of mind to loved ones, and definitely don't make for funerals conducive of closure.

There had been just one small rumor. Village gossip far to the east, most likely inspired by the disappearances. A ghost story. A woman in white only ever seen at twilight with long black hair and a red surgical mask. Kuchisake Onna they'd said. Kiragakure was so stirred by the horrifying incident that the villagers had brought back a billion year old spirit from their nightmares just to fit the role of suspect, but Naruto knew that there were far worse things in this world than ghouls and goblins.

He sighed a heavy sigh and let his head flop down onto his folded arms, only to curse as his brow bone struck the sturdy metal of his prosthetic. The knuckle hinge of his middle finger was digging into his temple, but he didn't move. Instead he just let the seeping chill of his fake forearm sooth his aching head while he starred at a small crumb reflecting in the glossy counter-top of his desk. He'd decided not to call off the extra surveillance at the gate, despite his councils urgings. It had been almost two months since the black out without a single definitive occurrence to follow the attacks, but even so, Naruto felt in his gut that something was wrong.

 _Gloooogggllluuuurrrppppp_...

The Hokage's stomach let out a long and grumpy groan, almost forming coherent complaints about being ignored.

Perhaps that feeling in his gut was just hunger. Hinata's cooking was off lately, but he knew better than to say that to her face. She was all water lilies and soft breezes on the surface, but underneath that tranquil and polite serenity there was a regular woman just waiting to be scorned so that she could dig her claws into something and watch it squirm. His wife had been hung up on the incident with Mae and Haro from the very day he was branded. She'd taken responsibility for what had happened, and all that guilt and distress seemed to find its way into her seasonings somehow. He'd tried to tell her time and time again that it wasn't her fault, and that Mae would come around one day and see that. He'd even thought about paying Mae a visit to see if he could coerce her into accepting Hinata's apology sooner so that he could reclaim his dinners, but he'd decided against it. Something about Mae was kind of...nerve wracking. She was nice enough, and pretty good looking, but being on her bad side was like standing in the shadow of a mountain that were ready to collapse. It was a palpable cold that you just couldn't ignore.

Naruto swiveled around in his chair to stare out over the village. The sun had yet to breech the horizon, and he began to wonder who would be the first to kick down the door with an industrial stack of documents to start off his day. Probably Shikamarou's chipper little assistant and his stupid peppy voice-

"Morning, Lord Hokage Sama!"

Naruto winced and clenched his jaw as he turned to face the young intern. He romanticized how good it would feel to give the unsullied little whelp a taste of fear he'd never had to feel before, but... Naruto ignored him and turned back to the window, that feeling in his gut telling him to get ready. Perhaps something else was on its way. Something to give the peace time generation their very first glimpse of war.

…

Mae was still trying to get over what she'd witnessed that morning. She'd heard Haro playing his music in the living room, and a big smile fixed itself to her face as she went to join him. However, upon rounding the corner she'd found two Haro's, One strumming his new guitar while the other played his hang drum. They both sang in time and appeared to be enjoying themselves, but the incoming hardwood had been the last thing Mae had seen before passing out.

Creating copies of himself wasn't the creepiest thing he could do. He could pulverize tree stumps into splinters with just his hands, and walk straight up trees and walls and any other surfaces that defied the laws of gravity, and physics. He could throw kunai, a full set to the ten ring, from impossible distances, and he was constantly using terminology that she didn't understand. What the hell was a _rasengan_? Or a _gentle fist no Jutsu_...or a _no Jutsu_ in general?

The more skilled her son became, the more alone she seemed to feel, and Mae was beginning to think that a bit of a distraction from it all wouldn't really be so bad.

It had been fifteen years since she'd had any romantic interaction outside of idle flirting for free takoyaki. Surely there was nothing wrong with indulging her urges. Kakashi certainly held no reservations. He was on another one of his dates right now, which Mae assumed had less to do with food and more to do with coitus. She had sat alone for a while, unable to enjoy her final day off, but she hadn't stayed long in her empty house, for she rarely ever could alone. It did look nice after all the new décor had found its place, though.

Deep inside she wondered if she were jealous of Kakashi and his unrestrictive and adventurous sex life. She wondered if she wanted one of her own. Not love, or any real commitments, but perhaps just an embrace. A naked, sweaty, animalistic embrace, and that had been the pondering that had brought her to where she stood, with Shingi's business card in her trembling fingers, staring up from the street at his house, debating if by six o' clock on a weekend he'd be home.

Maybe it was nerves, or the fact that she hadn't been laid in over a decade, or that acknowledging her dry spell had delivered a deep and damaging blow to her pride, but Mae had thrust the business card back into her pocket and shuffled on down the street like a coward. She cursed herself for being such a prudish wimp, and felt the need to vent about it. At least she knew someone who was available to listen, and he'd have to. It's not like he could run. Besides, there was a good chance that it was all his fault, anyway.

Mae knelt down in the grass before Neji's head stone wearing an expression of deadpan displeasure. She was obviously preparing to blame him for all of her problems, and the silence around his grave seemed to groan, in the very same way he would have, in preparation for it.

Mae scowled and snapped her arms over her chest with indignation before she began.

"Don't get cocky just because I chose you over _Mr. GoodWithHisHands_... And, don't you _dare_ think I've got no sexual prowess, either! It's not like you've been real busy the last fifteen years..." Mae then did as she always did and plucked a blade of grass out from the lawn to twist in her fingers.

She flicked the crumpled sprout at his name and folded her arms over her chest once more as her rant bubbled in her throat.

"You know, I'm a woman. A full grown, independent, adult one, and if I want to bang away my stress with some handsome carpenter, I have every right to do so! Hell, I deserve it! I work hard! Plus, when Shingi said he was a generous guy, I was almost certain he was referring to oral..." Mae let her arms fall as she plucked another blade to mangle.

"So, why can't I? I don't want to say it's your fault... As if your pride fire needs any more fuel.. Gah! How can you still be messing up my life!"

Mae tore her angry glare up from the grass and nearly died from a heart attack as a pair of beady eyes bore into her own like empty black holes. A raven was sitting on top of Neji's headstone, a Big one, only a few feet from where Mae was kneeling, and the manner of its posture and terrifying focus made her want to back away as slowly as she could. Clearly it was sick. Its beak hung open in a crooked sort of way, as if it had a twig lodged in its throat. The feathers were rough and disheveled, and it's unblinking eyes... It kept snapping its head, left, right, left, right so each one could see her every breath.

"n-n-nice birdy...do...do you have rabies..?" Mae whimpered nervously as she started to crawl backwards, never taking her eyes off of the creepy bird. "rabies means your scared of water...and I'm like...at least 60% water...so there's that..." She added, trying to sound as mirthfully convincing and non threatening as she could through clenched teeth and a panic attack.

The raven stretched its wings to pump the air around them, and Mae cowered into the dirt at the verge of tears, thinking that the raven had called her bluff.

"Alright! Fine...fifty percent... The rest is hard liquor and Tang, god, just please don't peck my eyes out..."

After a moment of silence Mae lifted her head just enough to peek, and sure enough the bird still sat there, starring. In fact, it had gotten closer. It was craning down at her, turning its head faster and faster, studying her up and down as if it had encountered something completely alien to it. Then suddenly it froze, right eye glaring into her soul, locking itself with her gaze. Mae opened her mouth to speak but shrieked instead as the raven dove from the headstone and hooked her cheek with a scalpel of a talon before soaring away.

Mae was cursing and screaming in a blown out rage, tapping her stinging face with her finger tips to check for bleeding, and not surprisingly, there was a decent amount of it.

"You Stupid Fucking Trash Bird! GAAHH! AND _YOU!_ " she rounded on Neji's grave as she got to her feet and kicked the headstone so hard her toes cracked. "You Are _Such_ An _ASSHOLE_!"

Mae hobbled out of the graveyard clutching her face, slinging a slew of curse words that rose and fell in pitch with every exasperated punctuation. She never stopped her vexed rambling regardless of the innocent bystanders with their children walking down the busy streets around her. Needless to say she got quite a few looks, and they only made her more angry, and by the time she limped into her house with her broken toe and lacerated face, she was a powder keg. And, who should be sitting on her couch at such a time, but post-coital Kakashi Hatake, feet propped on her new coffee table, mask hanging leisurely around his neck with his Icha Icha Paradise open in his lap.

"Get Your Disgusting Feet Off My Coffee Table, And Get Your Slutty Ass Off My Couch!" Mae roared as she hobbled to the kitchen for a clean rag, throwing open cabinet drawers with unhindered force. Kakashi closed his book and glanced up at her.

"Damn, who shit in your zen garden? And, what in the hell happened to your face?"

Mae was shaking her head, her voice tumbling out like a crazy person who'd skipped their medication.

"Oh, Just A Fucking Raptor Sent by and Angry God to Claw My Fucking Face Off! Pretty Regular Stuff! I swear on _All_ That is _Shitty_ in this world, If I have rabis I will kill _EVERYONE_!"

Kakashi cocked a brow and studied the wall in thought. "I'm not sure if you can contract rabies from a bird?"

Mae hissed, rummaging violently through a cluttered drawer for gauze. "What are you some kind of-of... _Bird_ Scientist Now!?"

"I believe the title is Ornithologist."

"Shut Your Face Before I Break It!"

Kakashi had stood up and walked over to her, taking over the mission for bandages that her shaking hands were failing. He went to the sink and wet the rag and handed it to her.

"Looks pretty deep. A civilian doctor would give you stitches."

Mae rolled her eyes, "Why are you even here. Stay at your girlfriends house. I don't need you chlamydia-ing up my new furniture."

Kakashi raised a brow and a smile turned the corner of his lips.

"Did Maybe-Mae's has a tuff day?" He patronized, pursing his lips into a kiss before pinching her unwounded cheek.

"Watch it old man! I will _not_ hesitate to water board you with this rag."

"Awe, you're just crabby. I'll put on some tea." Kakashi went to the cupboard and turned the knob to the stove, and smiled at the clicking sound it had made. She could tell he liked having the power back on, but Mae hardly noticed after all her years of roadside camping. He was surprisingly familiar with the layout of her unorganized kitchen, which would suggest he was here often when she wasn't, but Mae decided to voice that complaint another day.

"What were you doing when the bird nicked you?" He asked as he reached for the tea cups on a high cupboard shelf.

"This is way worse than a "nick" and I was...at the memorial grounds."

"Ah." Kakashi bid demurely, an understanding smile on his calm face.

"I was...I was telling him about how I deserve to have...a romantic life... I mean not like.. _romance..._ but, a sex life, you might say..." Mae stammered awkwardly, unsure of why she was telling him. "And then I get clawed in the face by a bird."

Kakashi laughed as his grey eyes glistened with amusement, "Wait, wait, hold on. You haven't had sex since Neji?! No wonder you're such a Bitch."

Mae's eyes went wide as hell fire ignited within them. She snatched Kakashi by the fabric of his mask from where it hung around his neck, and twisted it until it was tight. A drop of sweat pooled on his brow but his smile never faltered.

"Thank you for proving my point. You're a bit high strung if you haven't noticed." Kakashi pointed out as his cheekbones started to deepen in shade from lack of blood flow.

"I wonder how high I can string you with this mask...?" Mae growled, but as she looked him over her fire red eyes simmered back to crimson. She reluctantly let him go with a _humpf_ as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Was there someone you had in mind?" Kakashi pried playfully, "Like, Shingi Hasagawa from the carpentry shop...?"

Mae flushed pink and bit into her cheek. "no.." she nearly pouted.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "He's a friend of mine, and I told him you were single."

"Kakashi! I don't need, or want a wing man!"

"Hey, you should be thankful! I was practically the reason he gave you all those discounts! Though, don't get me wrong...an ass like that helps..." He commented with a wink as he gestured to her backside wearing a smile that made her burn through every shade of red that existed.

"You're a pig."

"We'll Shingi's not. You should take him up on his offer. He's a nice guy."

Mae pulled the rag away from her face and studied the blood in the wet cloth. It hadn't stopped bleeding yet.

"Yeah, Sumoki can fix you up after practice. She's getting pretty good." Kakashi said as he poured her a cup of tea and slid it in front of her on the counter.

"In the mean time. Think about it... Fifteen years is a long time lonely, Mae..."

She glanced up at the change in his voice. He was smiling, but he'd sounded so sad for her..

…

"Mae...can you hear me...?"

Mae opened her eyes because she knew that voice. She knew it well. And, as a foreign room came into view, so did Neji. He was near to her, looking tired and paler than he should, his brow furrowed rigidly over bloodshot eyes, the veins in them so bright against his snowy iris's. Sensations triggered by waking life came down on her like pikes, boring into her flesh, tearing it up and twisting it around, but she couldn't move. Not even a twitch. Exhaustion was a waterlogged blanket on her chest that threatened her lungs to give up.

 _What's wrong with me..._

She tried to ask him, but the sound wouldn't come. She must have made a face though, because Neji sat up and leaned in closer to take her hand in his, his eyes coming alive.

"Mae?" He asked her again, searching her face, looking so very desperate.

A door opened and let in light that blurred her vision, and from that blinding haze short locks of pink focused into view. Sakura came close and rested her hand on Mae's shoulder.

"How are her chakra levels?"

Neji turned away from the med-nin and back to Mae, and his grip tighten on her hand before he spoke. "Very low.."

Sakura paused as she looked down at her. She didn't look rested either. In fact she looked nearly dead herself.

"We can wait..." Sakura said softly. "But, it wont make it any less painful. If anything, doing it in the state she's in now might make it easier. If we can get enough of it out, we can transfer it back to help her stabilize.."

Mae's heavy heart started to ache as it pumped faster against the sludge in her veins. A desperate and primal pressure was building in her every molecule that defied her inability to move.

That pressure was Fear.

She twitched her fingers using all the last of her strength. Whatever they were talking about was frightening her so badly. She couldn't take any more pain. They needed to know that whatever was going on, whatever they were planning, _she couldn't take any more pain_.

They didn't see her.

Neji was starring deep into her eyes, squinting to see through her fog, as tears nearly welled in his.

Mae's heart beat even faster. It filled up her ears and made them throb with every agonizing thump. His anguish was making her scream inside for answers.

Was she going to die?

Mae didn't want to die.

She twitched her finger once more and tried to move her head. She could feel the muscles burn in her shoulders as she turned enough to catch his attention. Maybe if she could get up and run from this pain. If she could just get out of this room would it make it better?

He saw her struggling, and tried to smile, one tear slipping from the bridge of his nose. That scared her even more. Mae's eyes began to water as a lump rose in her throat that made her choke on tears. It came out harshly and the sound of it made Neji's jaw flex. He couldn't keep that half smile on his face anymore.

"I know it hurts..." He whispered to her, struggling to keep eye contact without breaking down.

Mae had managed to move her wrist up enough to clutch his arm as her clouded eyes strained to see him. He leaned over her and let her grab onto his sleeves as he kissed her forehead.

"How many more extraction..?" He asked Sakura, a rough break in his determined voice.

A moment of silence passed before the Kunoichi whispered.

"I don't know..."

…

"Ama! Wake up!"

Mae shot up in bed to the sound of her son shouting frantically, and the dream she'd had vanished into her mattress in an instant.

"What's going on?!" Mae demanded as she threw back her covers. There was a buzzing of voices in the streets coming in from the open window, too many for such an early hour of the morning. The sun had yet to rise and her room was dark and shadowed, but she could just make out her son's expression against his pale skin.

Haro's brows were knit together with worry as he held her gaze.

"It's the Memorial grounds..." He said darkly.

Haro lead the way out into the streets, and Mae followed behind him trying to decipher whether this was all some strange dream, too. There were people lining the sidewalks clustered in groups, talking and arguing in the gray dawn. The scene looking like a black and white movie. It was hard to see much other than silhouettes and outlines at a distance, but she could make out a large gathering down the road near the gate to the Memorial grounds. The air was heavy with so many heart beats competing for space. Mae felt an odd panic fester into her chest as they neared the commotion. So many questions assaulted her mind but they all went quiet as they pushed through to the front of the murmuring crowd.

Across the lawn near the Hyuga burial grounds sector there were Shinobi in their uniforms tracking around in small groups, some crouched, some pacing. The villagers she now stood with had given them a good berth, but Mae couldn't stand back and watch, for the place the ninja were investigating was too close to...

Mae walked forward over the grass in a daze, her eyes fixed on just one thing. A few Shinobi urged her not to tamper with the site, but she barely heard them. In fact when she came upon the unsettling scene, she didn't even notice she'd come up right next to the Hokage's side.

Mae starred down into a hole in the earth . There were more than just this one. She could tell by the other squads located around the area looking down at similar phenomena.

Neji's grave was a pit. And not just any pit. It didn't appear to have been dug up by shovels or spades, or any other earthly tool. It looked as though the casket had uprooted itself from the earth before laying back down in the grass. The coffin was dirty on the outside, mud and mire petrifyied into the fading gloss of the oak. The open lid revealed the inside. It wasn't earth that had sullied the lining. It was all stained silk and cracked velveteen from decomposition. An indent was left in the cushiony bed where his body had lain, and a deep and heavy stain had settled into the grooves. The musty scent of dust and decay clung to the air. Mae felt as though she might be sick..

"How many...?" Naruto whispered through grit teeth. The sound of it caught Mae's attention, but she couldn't take her eyes away from the casket.

"Five, Lord Hokage. All Hyuga who'd passed within the last 30 years. Neji's father was taken as well..."

"Secure the area. See if there's a trail to follow...they can't get away with this..."

Mae finally reclaimed her ability to look up and glanced around, but she couldn't see anything but the void in the black dirt. It stained her mind, dug a hole just like it into the backs of her eyes.

 _Why would someone do this?_

Mae's attention stuck itself to a face she hadn't seen in a while, the hatred for it being the only thing strong enough to pull her from her shock. Hinata was standing near to the other side of Neji's grave site, a hand to her lips, her slender brows furrowed as tears spilled from her eyes. She looked up too, and caught Mae's gaze, and for an instant, and for the very first time, they found common ground.

Who ever did this would pay.


	26. Chapter 26

Three Konoha Shinobi lay smeared at her feet in the brittle clay, choking on the tarry ooze that Grimm had forced into their lungs. They had seemed fast and apt enough. Surely their tracking skills were paralleled to that of the hunter nin of Kiri since they'd found them well past the far boarder of the Land Of Wind. Only four days after they'd unearthed the Hyuga graves, no less. However skilled Hejime had assumed the scouts had been, after the trackers first initial attempts to trap them with a wall of earth and stone, it all fell short when Grimm had clasped her scroll.

She'd whispered something to the parchment as she cast it up into the febrile desert air, and when it came undone, a drop of ink had tumbled from its pages and dyed itself to her brow, and then something awful...

They hadn't stood a chance as the ribbons of slick midnight lashed and coiled and snared.

She bent down to each one of their faces, now, and grazed a hand across their lips, pulling from them the pungent black sap, absorbing it back into the folds of her kimono.

This was something new to Hejime. Something the scroll had granted her. It was not chakra of any element, or anything remotely recognizable to him in all his years of battle. It was a dark, unnameable thing.

The young Shinobi were silent and still, and when all life had left them Grimm protruded from her robes once more, the Shinigami scroll, and the Raven began to sing as she went about her work, the most wicked of lullabies, setting Hejime's hair to its ends, and filling his gut with unease.

 _The shell is empty, waiting dull_

 _The corpse is waiting, still_

 _Draw them forth, and fill them up_

 _An army fit to kill_

 _Skin the new, and wake the old_

 _From the earth a soul to sway_

 _From a blade the flesh to flay_

 _Fit a charge to pay it forth_

 _all for The Scroll of Grimm_

It sang it soft, and airy, her breath between verses too gentle, like she were singing to a sleeping baby. She stroked the brown locks of a young Konoha kid, his headband in the grass a few yards away. He wouldn't need it now.

When Grimm stood she pulled loose the pages of the scroll once more, and as it unwound it traded them for another. The three newly dead evaporated into the scroll, and out fell a fleck of dust as white as a snowflake against the burning sands. When it touched the cracked face of the desert it flooded out into a skeleton. Hejime recognized which one it was by the tufts of long hair barely clinging to its leathery skull, and by the caked and withered navy blue Kimono around its sunken chest.

"My Love..?" Hejime began nervously, and so very cautiously, "Shouldn't we try it on one less...valuable to us, first?"

Grimm looked in his direction, her neck snapping taught in a sickly sort of way. Her milky eyes didn't see him, and were looking just past him, but the raven on her shoulder had him locked in view. Hejime felt his blood thicken.

"Before we reached Konoha I discovered something that might be of great use to us, Dear Husband...I wish to posses it. Without eyes, I simply cannot."

"But...perhaps you should test this new... _procedure_ on one of those dead scouts, first?"

Grimm passed the space between them very slowly, her gaze over his shoulder somehow more terrifying than actual eye contact. She stopped at his chest, dead gaze to the cloudless sky behind him, her long black hair lashing against the skin of his forearms in the harsh wind. The crow cocked its head sideways, one onyx eye piercing through.

"When I bring it forth...If it is not mine, you will kill it, wont you my love.."

She said it in a way that was not a question, and the threat within the crows tone kicked Hejime in the chest until his heartbeat was tangible in the air.

"You will kill him, over, and over, and over again. Until he is mine."

Grimm stood before him, unflinching as Hejime's throat closed in around itself. The moment was agonizing until the laden silence broke as she turned from him, allowing for a much needed breath.

"You think I will fail, Hejime...? I find your lack of faith... _disturbing_."

"Forgive me..." Hejime gasped softly, taking in breaths like he'd just come up from the bottom of a lake.

Grimm said no more and snapped the scroll like a whip, and the pages caught air, letting slip another fleck of dust. This one bloomed into Hejime's handy work. A wrapped bundle of matter, roughly of equal size to the skeleton beside it. Grimm turned away from the display and back toward him as she reached into her robes and pulled out a terrible thing. A swooping tri-dagger, its needle point end shining in the bitter sun, cold black metal sweating in the heat. There was no returning from a laceration of its nature. It would take an entire surgical team to stop any bleeding caused by such a blade.

"Right through the heart, My Dear Husband."

Hejime took the dagger, and the cool metal of the hilt in his clutch seemed to tally off another despicable deed to his internal list. Whatever prosperity and redemption awaited him in the afterlife wouldn't stand against all those marks...

"Come." She instructed her husband, and he followed her command, kneeling before the cellophane binding atop the preserved flesh of the civilian. He began to unwind it, peeling it away, liquid and coagulated blood trying to hold it all back together. It didn't smell like a rotted corpse, in fact it smelled bizarrely fresh...almost... _good?_

Grimm unwound her scroll even farther, wrapping the excess fabric back over her shoulder. Then, to Hejime's shock and displeasure, she pulled down her surgical mask. Below the mask it was still blank and groove-less skin, but the jaw within was mouthing inaudible words, shifting beneath like a creature in a draw string sack. When her sightless eyes rolled back in her head, the crow began to mediate the chant, perched still on her shoulder, trembling with anticipation, or perhaps extreme anguish from its possession. Hejime didn't understand the words, or even recognize the language. Something hellish though...he knew that much. The rhythm made his hands tremble around the hilt of the tri-dagger, his own heartbeat causing them to twitch with every thump. He couldn't keep himself from starring down at the flayed host, and its bulging eyes. The eyelids were gone. Hejime himself had taken them, and now he couldn't hide from that gaze. He couldn't remember what he'd looked like with skin. He couldn't remember the face, but the eyes...It was green... _they_ were green...for now.

The body didn't move. Not even once. But something began to slither in the corner of Hejime's focus. Grimm stood at their feet, and that was where it began. Ivory skin sewed over the bones and muscles of the toes, forging nails against the new surface. It grew up around the ankles, and higher still, like liquid it spread, deepening just slightly in shade as it fused itself to the muscle fiber. Hejime glanced over at the skeleton beside the growing human, but it was just as static as it had been. He even dared a glance at Grimm, and regretted it immediately. Her jaw was opened wide, so wide that it seemed unhinged beneath the flesh, stretching open her eyelids until they shone red. Hejime would never be able to scrub the image clean.

It wasn't long before the civilian was no more. The flesh of the face took its form, and new lids enclosed those condemning green eyes. The Shinobi lay naked in the grass. He looked like any typical Hyuga. Pale skin, long hair, even features... It was hard to believe that the skeleton beside them, disintegrating into the chalky waste of the desert, had ever been this man.

Hejime was about to ask what was next but Grimm answered him by snapping the pages of the scroll with the flick of her wrist, so sharp the sound of it, that his words caught in his throat. A plume of deep blue light illuminated the old bones from within before seeping from its ribcage, passing around each space in the sternum like a stream around stone. It coiled desperately for an instant, seeming to search for shelter before it began to slither like a snake into the mouth and nose of the fresh body. Hejime watched, anxiety racking his insides, triggering his impulse to kill it before it opened its-

A breath tore into the chest.

Hejime jumped, Grimm twitched, her raven fluttered its wings nervously and let out one sharp caw.

It was much too silent when the Shinobi opened his eyes. Nothing but white. _Byakugan_.

Grimm pulled up her red surgical mask, her raven leering down, snapping its gaze back and forth searching for any sign of consciousness. It was hard to be sure that the man was in the living. He certainly wasn't dead... Though, he didn't look...alive...not exactly...not at first.

.

Awareness didn't come in waves. It didn't come in foggy segments that only spawned more questions than answers, though questions there were plenty. He knew exactly where he'd been. Dead to Alive had been one long run on sentence shared by many voices, each one a millisecond of life.

His mother scolded, smacking a rolled newspaper up the backside of his head. A sheet of blindingly white paper against a school desk. A headband. A glance at Tenten naked on their first mission. Or was it a pair of eyes burning red, a cunning smile...Or was all that red just War. A hail storm of timber, and only a moment to decide. Naruto, Hinata, smeared with grit, tears, blood... That fire. Immeasurable time around that fire until the flames sputtered into a darkness that lead him to a much more pressing question as he stared up at this strange new company.

Friend...?

Neji saw the woman in white, but he saw _him_ first. A tired, nervous looking man with a-

 _Tri-Dagger_.

Foe.

Neji moved. _Fast_. He snatched the blade right from the man before thrusting it deep into his chest, a sharp give making his mouth water as it pushed through bone. Neji sprung into a crouch that hurtled him across the desert like a bullet. He activated his Byakugan for the first time in a very long time and was astounded by how sharp the world became, perhaps sharper than it ever had been. He could see the woman behind him still standing beside her dead comrade in the sand. He wasn't sure why he'd been so quick to kill him, or why it had been so _easy_ , but watching the woman in white confirmed that he'd made the right choice. Neji was repulsed by her strange trick. A black liquid was pouring from her eyes, coloring the entire iris black, spilling down her Kimono and pooling around her like a hellish oasis, until it spread up outward like a wave of tendrils, weaving over the brittle sand toward him. There was no chakra signature, or anything recognizable about it. Just a deep and heavy color, the epitome of Black now weaponized.

Naked, in a strange place far from home, up against a chakra-less dark magic without the slightest clue as to what year it was, Neji knew his best odds in such a state where to run. And, run he did, faster than he'd ever ran. Faster than he'd ever dreamed he could run. The barren land beneath him was rolling by so fast that surely Rock Lee wouldn't have a dream of matching this pace.

 _Rock Lee_.

He would need to be certain that he'd evaded the creature in white before returning to Konoha, where ever that was in relation to this place. Somewhere in Wind country more than likely, or at least near to it. He noted that his Byakugan could see much farther than before. _Something was different._ Behind him the woman had ceased her demonic pursuit, and was fading from the sight of his Juken as he quickly passed mile after mile. She certainly gave up quickly. That made likely two things. The man he'd killed was dear to her, and the woman in white was confident in her hunt.

.

Hejime fought for his breath, but it wouldn't come. His lungs were heavy with blood, and he could feel them filling, burning, and brimming before spilling out his mouth onto the sand. He had just enough time to watch her, but it wasn't what he'd wanted to see. She was spewing black, her expressionless dead eyes nothing of what they used to be. Did she even care? Did Laylin care? _Where was she..?_

Tears burned their way down his stilling face as he starred up at her through the growing dark. So, this was his end. This was what the gods saw fit. It was sooner than he'd thought, or maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was long overdue.

Alone, more or less. Alone with a wounded heart. How fitting.

Grimm turned her gaze from the hunt down onto the departing Hejime, his skin now paper white, trembling nerves sending out their last commands. She knelt. Her ruined eyes found his, somehow, and their gray pools bore into him without a single hint of feeling, until she pulled the paper mask away. Hejime lurched inside, so he closed his eyes. He didn't want to see the ghost.

 _Where was she..?_

The hole in his chest gushed a river of crimson as Grimm pressed her lip-less mouth to his. The raven found his ear and whispered.

"You are of no use to me this way, dear husband."

He could feel her icy fingers slip into his wound, stretching to fold her grip around his heart to cease it's wasted efforts. The pain was immense, heavier than the world itself.

How long he had followed, searching this monster for a shred of love. Looking for her. Looking for who she was supposed to be.

The raven came closer as the end swallowed him up. A sharp little nip of a beak pricked his ear as Laylin whispered,

"I love you, Hejime."

Blood loss made the gray in those eyes lighten against an imposing blue sky. The desert sun was cold, burning him up, and Hejime was afraid for when the pain would stop..

But, at least she held his hand. The other around his heart.

Laylin gave a sharp tug. Hejime went quiet.

And, Grimm took up her scroll.


	27. Chapter 27

"Yes! C Rank Mission! Finally!"

Sumoki was doing her usual victory dance, pumping her fists in the air as she bounded through the trees. Despite her exuberance, the reason behind the overly eminent mission that had been assigned to team Gakuto, was a dark one. The higher classed Ninja that would have normally been posted to attend such missions were away in search of the missing Hyuga, a fact that left the rest of the team notably less enthusiastic. But, Kakashi Hatake's only daughter was notorious for being quite out of tune to the emotions of others, being the farthest thing from an empath on the spectrum. A curious, and somehow naturally occurring trait that was most likely hereditary, and inherited from her run away mother. There was never any malice behind Sumoki's lack of consideration, and team Gakuto had grown quite used to it. Even Haro, who'd had far less time to grow accustomed to her nonconsecutive sentiments, barely noticed it on any normal day, but this was not a normal day.

A west bound team of scouts hadn't returned for their seventy-two hour briefing, and that had been the deciding factor that prompted the political outreach to the other Hidden Villages. Many Jounin, ANBU, and othe elite hunters were sent to The Land of Wind to investigate, stretching Konoha's defenses and resources to their most despairing limits.

Nearly a week had passed since the desecration of the Hyuga burial grounds. Most were smart enough to conclude the objective behind what had been done. Five graves were robbed, all of the same clan, all with the same Doujutsu, each Kekkei tactically proficient.

Yes, it was quite clear that someone had found a way around the Junjutsu...

To raise the dead...

It had been done before. Earth release resurrection techniique, and its affiliated renditions. All despicable jutsu.

 _If_ that was what had happened...fore, throughout the long and battered history of Ninja, surely there were much stronger shinobi to wield than the five taken Hyuga. Not to say that the five were not all renowned for their prowess, but when you have your literal pick of the dead, certainly there were more impressive specimen. And, that was the fact that suggested it was not the warrior, per say, that was desired, but the Kekkei Genkai they shared. A Kekkei that had been successfully guarded for centuries by the very brand that marked Haro, now.

Gakuto hoisted the heavy scroll up higher onto his shoulders as he lead the way through the canopy, each of his students at his heels. They were on a political assignment, headed for Kumogakure to sway the Raikage to aid in the search for whoever had stolen the resting dead from Konoha. The scroll would serve as leverage for his accordance. It was quite an important mission. So much so that Kakashi had been summoned out of retirement to deliver a similar scroll to Iwagakure to ask for their aid as well.

Gakuto sensei could have taken the mission on his own, just as Kakashi had done, and he probably would have preferred it that way, but his charges needed training with so little time to spare before the Chunnin Exams, and so they tagged along, two silent brooding Hyuga, and one very excited Hatake.

The trees got smaller and the blue sky opened up above as they passed over the land, one long stride after another. The incline rose as ancient stone jutted out from the prairie lands, the mountains fazing into view over the horizon. Sumoki had a spring in her step, practically twirling in mid air between leaps, grazing her palms through the breeze with a broad grin on her sunshiny face. It was almost enough to drag Haro from his gloomy disposition. _Almost_.

Haro couldn't get the image of his mother's face out of his head. He'd told Mae about the upcoming mission only a day in advance, and right after it she'd told him about Kakashi being sent off to Iwagakure. She was all alone, not even a headstone to lament to anymore...

She hadn't said much. Just a soft little rant of typical mom stuff.

 _Be safe, make good choices, don't do anything I wouldn't do._

Her eyes had given away something much heavier, though. Since Neji's body had been taken she'd asked for more hours at work, staying after to fill her time. She didn't seem to sleep at night. She sat out on the patio alone, drinking, more often than not.

With how frequent that kind of behavior had become, no body else would have noticed the difference, but Haro knew...

The surrounding prairie was littered here and there with a few trees, mostly gnarled oaks and cottonwoods, their dark and knobby skins casting jagged shadows over the tall grass that danced in a steady wind. It carried the mid-summer cotton blooms lazily through the warm air like white down feathers. It was beautiful, but it was clear that Gakuto wasn't trying to waste any time sight seeing. When the trees thinned out they presumed their travel on the ground, moving swiftly over the hills. Sensei kept up the pace, and the genin followed, but when a man stumbled out from behind an ancient oak tree, the sudden presence was more than just startling. They were hundreds of miles from the nearest village. Anyone just falling from the trees this far out into the wilderness weren't likely to be friends. An intense reflex reverberated through the shinobi as they slid to a stop in the grass, each one flared to compensate for how unready they'd been for such an inexplicable surprise. However, one among them was too quick on the draw. Three senbon flew. Warning shots. Quite accidental, and not lethally aimed, but careless all the same.

" _ **SUMOKI**_!" The bellow that tore through Gakuto sensai's chest was harsh enough to crumble mountains. The only thing worse was the glare he stabbed her with. Two of the senbon had pricked themselves into the already wounded mans calf, the other had found a home in the grass, but only after passing through the flesh of the underside to Haro's arm. He clutched at it while grinding his teeth, trying to keep a stance through the burn.

"Who Are You." Gakuto demanded from the man, who was now sprawled on the ground holding a wound on his side, the senbon being the very least of his worries.

"Please... _help me_..." the stranger plead. He looked tattered and dirty, his robes torn and caked with blood. Gaunt cheekbones protruded from sunburned skin, beneath rough unshaven stubble, and a rats nest of bronze hair.

"They stole my catch and all my money.. I'm a fisherman..!" The man explained breathlessly.

Gakuto assessed him, a scrutinizing glare hardening over his deep set eyes.

Meanwhile, his genin were behind him a few yards, a bit unprofessional for the rather uncommon circumstance. Hakaru had gone up to Haro to examine his wound, and when he tugged up his sleeve Haro found that he felt a little woozy. It wasn't all that bad. Just a small puncture on either side of his triceps that stung and ached up and down his arm, but the blood that dripped steadily like a pinhole in a bag of red wine...

"...that's gross.." Haro groaned, looking away from it as quickly as possible, while Hakaru fiddled with his arm to study both sides.

"Oh, calm down, it's just a through and through." he deduced rather condescendingly.

"Yeah," Haro retorted bitterly, "That means both holes hurt."

Hakaru smirked and rolled his eyes before shouting to Sumoki.

"Come clean this up, little Miss Warmonger..." Hakaru had sounded light and teasing, but he trailed off rather quickly when he'd glanced over to find Sumoki standing a couple of yards away. She looked impossibly pale as she starred at Haro's arm, her eyes so glossed that Hakaru could practically see the reflection of the trickling blood in the black of her iris's.

" _Sumoki! Were They Laced._.?!" Hakaru's voice was so severe that it grew an instantaneous panic in Haro's chest. A sickening unease began to fester when she said nothing. She just stood there, starring..

" _ **SUMOKI?!"**_ Hakaru snarled sharply, her name fanning aggressively out over the grasslands for the third time that day.

It seemed to break her from her trance, and as color found its way into her cheeks she stammered, "No!-no...it's- They're not.." She came up to the the boys and took Haro's arm, and that's when they noticed that her hands were shaking terribly.

"Are you alright..?" Haro asked carefully.

"I'm sorry Isa-" Sumoki seemed to blunder, stopping herself as a tangible silence fell around them.

Hakaru's eyes went wide before he bit into his cheek and slowly put a gentle hand on Sumoki's shoulder. She was red in the face, a tear slipping from the tip of her nose before it landed on Haro's wrist. She shrugged away from Hakaru's gesture rather sharply as she whiped her face with the back of her hand, then set herself to healing Haro's wound once more.

Haro hadn't ever dreamed of seeing her cry. He had been fairly certain that she were not physically capable. Witnessing her uncharacteristic, and confusing distress was both unnerving and heart wrenching..

"..hey...I'm alright, Sumoki...what's wro-"

"Don't be Such a _Pussy_." Sumoki hissed coldly to Haro as she cut him off, dropping his half healed arm before stomping off toward Gakuto and the wounded man.

Haro was astounded. He'd never heard her sound like that...so brutal and harsh, and that was _really_ saying something. He glanced over to Hakaru who was watching her go with a furrowed brow and narrowed lavender eyes. Haro sensed that Hakaru knew what was going on.

"What just happened?" Haro asked.

Hakaru said nothing, his expression set to somber as he helped Haro to his feet and lead the way toward the others.

"What is your name, fisherman.." Gakuto ordered. He gestured to Sumoki without even looking at her, and she followed his implied demand, healing the stranger to the best of her abilities to make up for her own unprofessional belligerence.

The man seemed a bit beside himself, speaking out of turn and answering the wrong questions. Dehydration and shock surely playing a role.

"Kirigakure. I fish, I- Please, I need to get to Konoha.."

Gakuto narrowed his gaze. Something about this man wasn't right. It very well could have been the elements that made him seem so off, but Gakuto wouldn't risk it. Having this man weak, and half incoherent would serve them fine until they could find out more about him.

Gakuto tossed a flask at the mans feet and he drank rapaciously, taking every drop as Sumoki finished her work and stood.

"Can you walk." Gakuto questioned roughly, glaring down at the man.

"Y-yes, yes, please, just tell me which way to Konoha.."

"And what business do you have in Konoha?"

The man seemed a bit startled by the question. His hazey brown eyes broadened for a moment until he stammered,

"My wife, I told her to run that way when the bandits came...they were going to..."The man trailed off, his eyes falling to the dirt until he cried out, " _Please_ , just tell me where to go! I need to find her.."

Gakuto glanced over his shoulder at his students who were watching him, waiting for him to give an order. The man seemed innocent, tragic, pathetic, exactly like a civilian in trouble, and yet...

"We will take you to Konoha." Gakuto decided firmly. The man looked up at him, eyes brimming with tears,

"Thank you, thank you sir, I-"

" _But_ , you'll be coming with us first."

The light in the man's eyes went out when Gakuto had drawn his cold stipulation.

Gakuto turned his gaze to the boys, and they both knew what was asked. They took the stranger by the arms and helped him to his feet. It would be slow going to The Hidden Cloud until this man was well enough to run on his own. They hoisted him up, his head hanging low in downtrodden hopelessness. Gakuto was unmoved by it and bent over the new burden, his towering shoulders shrouding out the sun, blanketing the civilian in a dark and heavy shadow.

Haro couldn't help but feel like Gakuto was being a bit heartless. This man needed medical attention, and his family was in danger, but the sturdy sensei just took the fisherman by the hair with a mallet of a hand and forced a terrifying glare.

"I said I'd help you, and for that you should be grateful, but you know what.."

The pause in Gakuto's voice was loaded, teeming with ill-intent, until he growled a low and menacing threat.

"I don't give a _Damn_ about a man with no name..."

The fisherman trembled, afraid to break that gaze as he stammered,

"Hejime...my name is Hejime..."


	28. Chapter 28

Beneath a tall dogwood they took shelter for the night. Hakaru had assembled a fire and was heating water in a kettle, while Sumoki and Haro sat stiffly across from one another on either side of Gakuto, listening to the subtle interrogation.

"You're quite a ways from the sea, aren't you fisherman..? It's almost... _unbelievable_ that you'd walk that far with a wound like that." Gakuto pointed out, sounding blasé as he pulled a brass cigarette case from his heavy hanten jacket.

The man named Hejime still seemed like he couldn't discern up from down, as if he'd been poorly re-wired and left jumbled inside.

"When I couldn't find Laylin...I just kept walking...Gods, I hope she's alright..! I pray she's safe somewhere in Konoha..."

Gakuto let out a grunt before he rudely cleared his throat, shifting his weight on the stone he'd been using as a stool. Haro kept glancing at it wondering how the boulder hadn't cracked down the middle since it appeared more like a pebble below the bison of a man that they called sensei.

"She's probably dead. Caught up with those bandits you were wailing about, don't you think?"

All three genin snapped wide eyed gazes to Gakuto as his hard-bitten statement settled an uncomfortable air around the campsite.

Hejime's face darkened. He glared down at his dirty hands, tears carving through the grit on his cheeks. The genin couldn't figure out what Gakuto's objective was. If he was rooting around for a bluff, he'd dug into flesh instead. Their calloused and brutal sensei was salting wounds, messing with the guys head for no apparent reason. However, Gakuto had been apart of the KTIF long before any of his team were even concieved. Surely there was some kind of underlying motive for his cruelty...no matter how hard it was to see, now.

"You know...this far out... your little wife all by herself... _bandits_ running around...I'm sure you could imagine how that might play out for her...A lot worse then a few knitting needles in the leg, I'll tell you that much.." Gakuto let out a bemused chuckle that made Haro wince. He glanced up at Sumoki to find her stark in the face, clearly upset by their sensei bringing up her mistake so carelessly once more in such a heartless fashion. She shot up from where she sat before hurrying over the grass into the swiftly approaching dark. Gakuto wasn't apologetic in the least. In fact he didn't even flinch or take his eyes from the flames of the fire as he lit his cigarette and took a long and heavy drag.

Haro wanted to go after her, but in all honesty he wasn't sure if he were allowed. Gakuto was acting much more... _menacing_ than usual. He had always been rough around the edges, but this was a wrathful kind of wicked that made Haro fear for what ever might come next. Again, Surely there had to be a reason for it. Clearly he had some suspicions about Hejime.

Gakuto barked suddenly through the hush.

"You two. Tail our _Workplace Hazard._ "

The boys scowled at the insensitive comment but stood without a word and followed Sumoki's path. When they were out of range Haro broke the silence.

"It was an accident! It's not like the two of us couldn't have done the same thing! That man came out of nowhere.."

Hakaru nodded in agreement, but didn't speak. Instead he activated his byakugan and scanned over the hills searching for her chakra. He seemed to pinpoint it as he headed slowly over the grassland with a stern expression to his face.

"Hakaru, When she nicked me with that senbon why was she so...weird about it? I mean, sure, it was probably really embarrassing, but...it seemed like more then that." Haro questioned as he walked beside Hakaru who had his hands in his pockets as he studied the cloud cover to the east darken against the twilight. "I know you didn't answer before, and you probably wont now, but we're a team, remember? I think I deserve to know who I'm willing to die for." Haro added.

Hakaru broke a weak smile and gave Haro a glance. "You've got a solid point, but she wont listen. Plus, it's not really my place to share, and if I know Sumoki then you'll never hear a word of it from her."

"A word of what? Please, just tell me...What if I can help?"

Hakaru seemed to deliberate for an instant before his eyes caught the light of her white hair glowing against the dark and colorless evening. She was down in the nook of a hill, wading through tall prairie grass toward a barren oak, its bark-less skeleton gleaming almost as brightly as her ponytail.

Hakaru deactivated his byakugan and sighed a heavy sigh before crossing his arms over his chest.

"She called you Isamu.." He explained with a low and thoughtful hush. "We went to academy together. We were all really good friends, and when all three of us were placed on the same team we couldn't believe our luck... Isamu was our best friend. Hell, I'm pretty sure Sumoki had a crush on him. I know he had feelings for her, too... But, one day at practice Sumoki and Isamu were sparring. Sumoki gave him a little paper cut on the shoulder, and we teased him about it...told him he was getting clumsy...until the convulsions started..."

Haro pulled his gaze from the valley where Sumoki had wandered and fixed his sight on Hakaru's expression. It was vacant mostly, but more sad than it was empty.

"Sumoki grabbed the wrong blade..." Hakaru said softly. "It was an accident...but, she poisoned him, Haro...she killed him...The worst mistake a Shinobi can make..."

Haro looked back down the valley as the dark sank down around them to settle the night. His heart felt heavy for her. How it must feel to carry that guilt every day. How it must feel to be called a "workplace hazard" by your own sensei. And worse. How it must have felt earlier that day when she hit him with that senbon...no wonder she seemed so stressed. She looked absolutely horrified.. Hakaru spoke beside him, sounding far away in his head.

"Could you imagine it..Killing your best friend..? ...Having to live with that every day..."

…

 _No signature...No chakra signature...How could that be?_

Neji was trembling, fresh muscle burning beneath a livid energy he couldn't settle. The sensation in his body was like none he could place. A vim like fire, or lightning, or something stronger. There was too much of whatever it was, and it was making his hands shake.

The best rout of action was hard to pin down. If the woman in the surgical mask was a skilled tracker, would she follow along behind him, or head toward where she knew he was likely to be? _Konoha._ Nearly all Byakugan came from Konoha. Even if she hadn't collected him from the Fire Nation at all, it was still likely she knew where he was headed, which lead to a plethora of other questions that had no answers.

Why had she summoned him? Was he under her command? Who was she?

He found it unlikely that he were under any sort of Jutsu. She wouldn't have allowed him to kill her comrade, and certainly wouldn't have let him run. He'd searched his body with his Byakugan and found no evidence of a talisman of any sort that he could recognize. Not only that, but there didn't seem to be any abscond link of chakra bending from the confines of his own tenketsu.

This wasn't a Summoning Justu. Not of any kind he'd known of. Perhaps it was something new? Something so discreet that not even he could pinpoint its presence, much less its classification. Or, perhaps it was and he'd escaped it somehow. After all, he was more powerful than he'd been before...

His altered physical condition was one among a slew of pressing concerns that needed attending.

The woman in white with the raven. She had appeared to be the one behind the reigns of this phenomena. Literally millions of possible explanations, coincidences, and ill-intended deeds were plausible with so little to build from. If she'd brought him back, if that was indeed what had happened, where had his body been? Had she plucked him from the spoils of the battlefield-

That thought had yet to occur to him, but when it did Neji's blood hardened in his veins.

Konoha.

It could be gone.

In fact, its was likely..

He would find the answers soon enough, but they would all have to wait until he'd found some clothes, and a god-damned pair of scissors.

His hair had grown unmanageably long, hanging to his knees in tangles, snagging on tree branches as he ran causing him to curse out loud ever time it yanked his head back. When a small village came into view just East of the boarder to Fire, Neji spied a small house on the outskirts of town with a second floor window left open. He'd used his kekkei to be sure that no one was home and ducked in and out from behind whatever cover he could utilize to keep from being mistaken for a streaker before clambering in through the window.

The bedroom was neat and old fashioned. The nature of the trinkets on the dresser, and the small bronze picture frames boasting smiling children indicated that an elderly couple lived here. _Great_. Hopefully the Grandfather was a taller man.

Neji pulled open the dresser chest and pulled out a pair of Khakis, and sighed. They unrolled and only fell to his mid calf, but it would have to do. He found a white undershirt that was a bit more generous and shimmied into them, thankful to feel less exposed than he had. Running naked through a desert wasn't his idea of exhilarating, and a minefield of trees makes for a brand new set of obstacles with much higher stakes should you run groin first into anything with bristles.

Neji slid open the door and stepped out into the hallway. The walls were covered in hanging family photos, so much so that he nearly couldn't find the door to the bathroom. When he did he began rummaging through drawers near the sink and found a pair of scissors and a comb, and when he turned to face the mirror he nearly dropped them both to the linoleum.

 _The Cursed Seal_...

Neji stumbled to the mirror in disbelief, tugging back his hair, glaring into the reflection of his bare forehead.

 _It was gone_...

Dying had been strange enough, but feeling the Juinjutsu seal away his Byakugan had been stranger. He'd gone blind before he'd even died. It had been almost a bitter joke when it had happened. The missing brand gave a likely answer as to _Why._

Someone wanted his Byakugan, not his body. That was why there was no talisman. She hadn't intended for him to get away.

The absence of his brand wasn't the only thing sending him swiftly into shock. He was quite taller and broader than he'd recalled himself to be, but his face disturbed him the most. It was still recognizable, but deeper set eyes, and harder lines glared back at him. He looked severe, paler, and a little gaunt in the jaw. A good meal would hopefully do away with some of it, but a good meal wouldn't turn back time. He looked at least thirty. In Fact, he admitted that he looked a lot like his father... _How long had it been?_

Neji tore a comb through his hair and took up the scissors, slicing it at his waist before cinching it at the ends to keep it from flying around. He left the bathroom and leaped down the stairs in search of a calendar or letter with the date on it, but in his anxious discomposure he'd failed to notice the couple of the house coming up the sidewalk.

When the door flung open he hadn't the time to find cover, and an elderly woman beside her husband both gawked at him where he was standing in the middle of their kitchen.

The old man shuffled a bit, adjusting his bifocals as he stammered,

"Are...are those my Khakis?!"

Neji shot past them out the door and fled into the woods before they had the chance to call for help.

It seemed that he'd have to wait until Konoha to find out how long he'd been dead.

Konoha...

If the village still stood, what then? Walk leisurely through the gate in the hopes that no one would recognize him before he could appeal to the Hokage? Most weren't happy to see the dead rise, and for good reason. Resurrected Shinobi were dangerous puppets whose strings wove through the fingers of the dissolute. _Was he dangerous_? It was a question that was hard to answer with confidence. His thoughts were his own, but...

It would be better to be taken into custody to be assessed. If Konoha stood he would surrender himself at the gate.


	29. Chapter 29

When the gate came into view Neji spied the Konohagakure guards. Many more than there had ever been. Something had the village on high alert. Neji slowed to a brisk walk as he neared, letting their gazes dissect and measure him with every step. He didn't recognize any one of them. They didn't seem to recognize him, either.

A rugged looking ninja in the usual flak attire flicked his cigarette as Neji stopped before the entrance to the village. Two others were with him and slowly formed a wide ring around him, professionally circumspect, while two others watched from atop the wall.

"A Main House Hyuga. Don't recall any clan members running errands beyond the border today...State your business... What were you doing outside the wall?" The shinobi sounded stern, yet bitterly entertained, and the squad drew kunai and prepped their fingers for a fight. Neji was surprised by the stringent protocol.

 _High alert indeed._

Due to his brand Neji had never been mistaken for a Main House Hyuga before, and the bizarre statement nearly stunted his reply. That, and the nervous jitter that paralyzed him. It was strange to speak to others after so long. Especially, since his first human interaction after coming too had been skewed toward the darker side of the spectrum. But, somehow he managed to speak.

"I am Neji Hyuga, son of Haizashi Hyuga...It is imperative that I speak to the Hokage at once.."

The shinobi tensed, eyes wide, searching for the impossible before instinct did what it should. They seized him and bound his hands behind his back and marched him into the village toward the Hokage compound.

Neji could feel the air around his escorts. It was trembling, but none spoke a word. They seemed in a hurry to get him there, as well; Eager to put space between the self proclaimed zombie and their own livelihoods.

The village was different. Things were built up in different places where old structures had stood. The Hokage compound itself gleamed with fresh paint and smelled of new timber.

The Village stood,

But, it _had_ fallen.

Neji had never seen the holding facility of the eastern prison house. It was small and cramped and surprisingly empty.

"Inform the Hokage." The squad leader instructed, and the smallest shinobi evaporated in a blur. They locked Neji in a cell and posted in a row before the bars, all eight of their eyes never venturing from his position. It was uncomfortable, but necessary. They were doing exactly as they should, and he couldn't blame them for their precautions.

The walls were teaming with counter-measure traps, and seals. He didn't need to activate his Kekkei to know that they were there. After a time, and a decent amount of ping-ponging between doubt and certainty in his own mind, Neji glanced sharply toward the sound of the heavy bar lock to the steel door and its labored groan as four figures stepped into the room in a hurry. The first three were nameless, masked ANBU, but the last to enter was-

"NARUTO!" Neji cried as he leaped to his feet causing the guards to flinch and tense around their blades. Neji baffled at how different his old classmate looked, but he was certain that it was him. Though, certainly not a young man anymore. Trimmed hair, deep laugh lines, a squared jaw. Naruto had to be at the very least 25... that prospect settled very uncomfortably for Neji...

Naruto watched him, brows knit together, unmoving and silent. Neji tried to be just as calm but it was near impossible. So many questions were burning him from the inside out.

"He approached the gate and surrendered himself willing, Lord Hokage." One Shinobi stated.

 _Lord Hokage..?!_

The room spasmed when an irrepressible belly laugh escaped from Neji.

"Naruto!? _You_... _Hokage_! All those years, and You Actually Did It?!"

The ANBU's masks seemed to glance between one another in confusion, but Naruto now stood with a growing grin on his lips.

Neji composed himself with an easy smile as he came up to the bars to get a better look, recalling the last time he'd seen him.

"I'm glad to see I didn't die for nothing." Neji offered sarcastically, but there was an underlying warmth to his tone.

Recognition glinted in Naruto's wide blue eyes. _It was really him..?_ One of the accompanying ANBU suddenly spoke up.

"I don't see a talisman of any kind, Lord Hokage Sama." The smallest of the three ANBU affirmed tonelessly from beneath her mask. Neji could sense that she were a Hyuga, her Byakugan sending a familiar tingle of energy through the air. "If this _is_ in fact Neji Hyuga, it would appear that his Junjutsu did not reform at all."

The room seemed to rhetorically calculate the new information.

"Full, around the clock surveillance. Hatsu, when Shikamaru's squad returns bring him to my office right away."

"How long...!?" Neji blurted to the Hokage before he turned to leave. The captive was leaning against the bars, paging through the emotions in Naruto's confused and cautious eyes that now replaced the brief smile he'd worn before.

Naruto stood a moment, seeming to weigh the risk in answering such a question before he said,

"Fifteen years..."

Neji fell back against the far wall and sunk to the floor studying his palms. There were not words to describe such a shock.

Fifteen years...

 _Fifteen years..._

Naruto watched him carefully, witnessing the very human reaction to such a mind-blowing discovery.

Naruto knew that it was against his better judgment, and against the protocol for such an incident. It would put the village in danger, even, and yet that just couldn't be.. This was Neji. He knew in his heart that this was Neji.

The gate began to creak and Neji's wide glossed eyes shot up to the sound. Naruto, in his cloak, a broad and gleaming grin on his face held out a bandaged hand down to him. Neji took it and before he knew it the Hokage had him wrapped in a hug, one fist against his back, reassurance seeping through it. The gesture was eerily familiar. He'd died on this shoulder..in this very same grip..

Naruto released him, his broad fox-smile widened to his ears, as a booming laugh tumbled forth.

"Man, have you got a lot of catching up to do!"

..

Catching up in Naruto's office was like wave after wave of nausea and relief. They'd gone through a number of hardships since his death, but as always the village thrived. Team 11 were all alive, and doing well considering.

Neji did his best to explain what he'd seen in the desert when he'd awoken. The woman with the raven and the strange chakra-less attack, and the man he'd killed, but his recall wasn't as useful as one might hope. It seemed the village had very little information to compare it with.

"I'm sure we both know that it's likely she'll come for me...or just take another Kekkei..." Neji said darkly, shifting in his chair under the weight of the gazes aimed at his back. Naruto's ANBU were watching silently behind him, taking the Hokage's orders to watch him at all times very literally.

"Neji..." Naruto began, distress shading his face, "there's something else you should know..."

Neji waited impatiently for him to go on, but the blond seemed to hesitate before he stammered,

"Yours was not the only body taken. I'm not sure what that means. Perhaps the objective was to collect multiple weapons and distribute them into hosts...but...Your father was taken as well...along with three others, not including yourself. We're doing everything in our power to find them.."

Neji felt as though he'd fallen over, but he sat stiffly in his chair. If his father had been taken would he be resurrected? Would he escape, too?

Or be weaponized...

Or just be reaped for his eyes and left in some ditch...

Neji felt his blood start to simmer. That vim that burned him boiled his core. He felt the sudden urge to kill something. That urge was strong, and it frightened the calmer parts of his conscience.

"It's a lot to take in all at once...But, with your help I know we'll be able to find who ever did this, and do away with them for good..." Naruto asserted, clenching his metal fist into a stone on his desk before a half smile turned his lips. "This must be pretty crazy, huh?...But, trust me, its about to get crazier.."

Neji wasn't certain of the smile Naruto wore. It was keen and clever and it hid something peculiar.

"You don't by chance remember a woman named Mae, do you?"

Neji swallowed air down his throat in a crooked sort of way and gaged before catching his breath.

"Excuse me.?!"

Naruto's grin grew twice as broad. "I'll take that as a yes, then?"

"How Do You Know About Her?!" Neji barked too sharply, coming off as angry even though all he felt was pure shock. He'd thought about her a few times, and wondered what had happened to her. She was a wayward, direction-less girl. It was hard to draw any assumption as to where she'd ended up, and since waking up alive, the girl had yet to cross his mind through all the chaos.

"She lives here in the village now. You can find her at the greenhouse. I think before anything else you should probably pay her a visit." Naruto boasted casually, pretending to study his nail beds as if this news were nothing at all in comparison to something more that he was hiding. "It's a new building near the Uchiha compound ruins. All those late night shifts are the only thing that's kept her from breaking down my door to skin me alive after I sent- Well, I'll let you two talk about that.." Naruto squeaked impishly, his lips pursing into a tiny o in order to contain his secret.

Neji felt suddenly more nauseous. He couldn't explain why but butterflies were lashing away at his insides, even burrowing up into his throat, playing with all that extra energy he'd acquired, amplifying it to a near unbearable zenith.

Neji stood in stages, uncertain, his mind reeling and recoiling, and twitching uselessly within his skull. Should he go now? Should he wait? What would she be like after all this time?

How was she here?

Why did Naruto know about her?

 _How in the Hell was she HERE?!_

Neji finally stood after basically crouching over his chair like an imbecile for a solid five seconds, unable to make up his mind. When he headed for the door the ANBU followed uncomfortably close, slinking around him, black-hole eyes watching him from their masks.

"Come on, Don't be Dicks about it!" Naruto shouted to them, and all four ANBU dispersed to watch from vantage points out of sight.

"Let's hope for your sake that she's had a dry day, and a bit of breakfast this morning." Naruto offered cheerily from behind his desk just before Neji left the room.

Neji's brow furrowed as he opened his mouth to ask, but Naruto answered first with a casual shrug.

"She's a bit of a drinker now-a-days.."

...

His palms were sweating. _Really_ sweating. His stolen clothes felt much too tight, and stuffy even in the cool night air. It was chilly after dark. Autumn seemed to be approaching but hadn't quite arrived. He could smell it coming on the breeze, though. The hint of musk, the dead leaves and damp cool black dirt. Somewhere in the village there were pumpkin treats baking, for warm spice and cinnamon clung to the cold.

The greenhouse was dim, and glossy in the dark. A few lights in the heart of the jungle within were casting deep emerald silhouettes of leaves and stalks, stems and petals, a literal forest of warm shadows. It was closed for the night, and he couldn't see anyone inside, but as he neared the glass a flash of color caught his eye. He walked softly around the structure peering through, trying to see past all the greenery to get a better look. Maybe if he saw her first. If he could just have a moment to gauge himself...

And then, through a break in the shrubs and vines there she was.

She had a witches circle of open books sprawled out on a dry patch of poorly swept concrete, islanded by little rivers of wet potting soil searching for clogged floor drains. A few lamps burned warmly in the dark casting steady light that carved around the sleeping flowers. Those flowers burdened old oak shelves and plots that were dripping with clean water, sending a steady drip..drip.. drip into puddles in the dark. The books were inventory books, thicker than her waist, opened to their centers like some kind of epic tomes you'd find in a history museum. She sat cross-legged in the middle, a pen in her hand, an eraser-less pencil tucked behind her ear, Two empty bottles of wine on their sides, another half empty and well on its way.

The teahouse had tucked her away from the world, and hid her from the sun, but Neji could tell right away that she weren't hiding anymore. Her skin was so deep and rich and warm that it made his mouth water. Her curls were wild about her face, blooming down to her waist in springy ringlets, shining a deep red-brown in the lamplight. And those eyes, foggy and tired, cast down at her work, they still glowed a brilliant red through her buzz like paper lanterns in the wet heat of July.

How had he not thought of her more often than he had...?

All the time he'd spent stuck between alive and dead. All that time around those cold and empty flames had been wasted on comatose renditions of thought, when he could have been thinking of her.

He could have been warm.

Neji stood outside the glass door, its panes flickering softly, beckoning him inside. That drip within was echoing, counting down seconds before he'd turn and run like a coward, or muster the strength to push open that door..

Neji gripped the handle and stepped inside, forgetting to breath, but when he took that first breath the heavy smell of earth lulled his racing heart for just a moment. So many feelings were plaguing him at once. It was almost frightening, for it was the same anxiety ridden sensation he'd felt when he'd first opened his eyes. A rush without a thought to lead it. But, why? It was just Mae...Just that wrathful, sprightly, brat-mouthed...

When he stepped around the corner into the soft, dim light she still hadn't noticed him. Without the glass between them she seemed to glow a little bit warmer, and he lost his train of thought. Her uniform was forest green, short and low cut, showing enough bronzy skin to catch the hazy light in a mirage that smoldered. She scribbled a little note on one of those biblical books with a small potted flower next to her that he was surprised he'd recognized at all.

The Poison Queen, also known as Wolfs Bane. Deadly. He recognized it by its deep violet scoops, almost slipper-like in shape. She seemed to be examining it before taking notes, perhaps documenting its growth, or possible abnormalities. Mae paused and set her pen down and took up her wine bottle. She brought it to her lips, and closed her eyes for a sip, that turned into a gulp...that turned into a guzzle...

When it was empty she gasped a little to catch her breath before she cleared her throat and sighed.

A sudden crash of glass tore through the quiet. Mae had dropped the empty bottle to the floor where it shattered at her knees. Neji's heart throbbed painfully in his chest when her gaze locked with his. She looked terrified, almost in agony, stumbling to her feet in a defensive sort of way before backing out of her circle of books to put more space between them.

Tears welled in her eyes in an instant and they poured down heavily as if she were the only one in the room.

"Not here too...you _can't_ be here too..." She groaned through a sob while bending down to brandish an empty bottle before hurling it clumsily to the ground near him. She was drunker on her feet than she'd been on the floor.

"Wake Up!" She demand of herself as she shut her eyes tightly and slammed her knuckles into her temples. She grabbed two fistfuls of hair and sank back to her knees, crying softly while talking to herself in the dark.

"I'm so tired...even in my dreams I'm so tired..."

Neji hadn't moved an inch. He had stupidly overlooked all the possible reactions his presence might inspire, but this was one he could never have foreseen.

She thought this was a dream.

Neji took one hesitant step forward, and then another, unsure of what exactly to say in such a moment. He settled for the only thing that would come to him.

"..Mae...?"

Her mumbling stopped. Her crying stopped. Silence filled the greenhouse, all fore that drip.. drip.. drip...

Mae slowly tilted her head up from her hands, peering through her curls with wide incredulous, and petrified eyes.

"Mae...it's Oka-"

Pottery pots started flying in his direction like she had eight arms to launch them, and suddenly he was diving this way and that to avoid the debris. Her shrieks and screams filled the darkness like a mess of brawling cats. _This was more like what he'd expected_.

"Calm Down You Crazy-"

Mae shrieked louder, ignoring his attempts to speak. He was in her path and couldn't make it to the door, so she took up the long neck to her wine bottle and broke it into a shiv.

Neji paused as her hail storm ceased, and was replaced by her animalistic glare and the glinting edge of jagged glass. She was breathing hard, but finally silent, the tactical side of her brain focused enough to devise a very stupid plan.

Neji couldn't help but smirk.

"And just what are you going to do with that?" He asked her casually, folding his arms across his chest.

Mae blinked hard, her expression morphing in strange and unreadable ways. She looked to the shiv that trembled in her grip then back up to the Zombie with her fearful eyes. She looked rather cute to him for some reason.

"It's alright Mae. I can explain..." Neji watched her eyes drift down to the potted Wolfs bane and cut her thoughts in half.

"Don't. Even. Think About It.." He warned her sternly as he watched her play out lacing her weapon with crushed petals in her head. "You'll cut yourself in the process, so Don't You Dar-"

Mae dove for the pot before he could finish his sentence but in a millisecond Neji had her pinned against the heavy shelf behind her, the force of him causing the bottle shard to tumble from her grip. It was a wonder his onlooking ANBU babysitters hadn't interjected yet. There was a good chance that from a spectators point of view this was all rather funny. Though, to Neji what came next certainly wasn't.

Mae's cries weren't as they'd sounded before. They were much, much worse. They were not shrill or blood bloodcurdlingly loud like they'd been. No. Quite the opposite. They were broken, wheezy sobs with pleading fearful eyes. She was shaking, and she couldn't breath.

"What are you.!? What _are_ you..What's _happening_..?!" She cried through a crippling haze. It was as if her life were about to end and she already knew it..

"Mae, I don't want to hurt you.." Neji said as calmly as he could, but she was rather close to him. Her breath was sweet with wine.

She didn't seem to hear him, though her limbs gave up the last of her struggling. She went limp in his arms, wet with tears and cold sweat.

"Wake me up.. you're such an _Asshole_..." she mumbled into his shoulder. Neji smiled bitterly at her little pet name she'd given him all those years ago. She was drunker than any human being he'd ever seen, and it was a wonder she were able to stand at all, but a small silver lining illuminated their bleak encounter that evening. At least for him. The morning was sure to bring one hell of a hangover, and he was going to enjoy witnessing it.

...

 _Hello all!_

 _Just a heads up. The following chapters will be sporatic as all hell so don't forget to press follow Not only for my benefit :) but so that you don't skip any chapters because they're going to be awesome! (i mean lets be real for a second...this is what you've been reading for lol)_

 _I'm so giddy and excited! I've waited so long for this it seems XD Thanks again Everyone!_

 _..._


	30. Chapter 30

Neji sighed. Whether it from shock, exhaustion, inebriation, or a powerful combination of the three, Mae had passed out in his arms.

Inconvenient.

How was he ever going to figure out where she lived? Drag her all the way back to the hokage compound? He supposed that he could just go...But, however tempting it was to leave her lying there on the muddy floor to be woken by the morning shift, he knew he couldn't do it.

Neji stood with Mae in his arms, deciding it better to take her back to the compound rather than roam aimlessly through town, until the sudden sound of light pattering on the roof was followed by the glass door opening, and there stood one of his surveillance ANBU. A goat. The horned mask peered at him, a curious grin carved into its muzzle, the man beneath it shrouded in a hooded cloak-sweater and black hakamas. He was as silent as death itself, and even though Neji knew it was mandatory for ANBU never to speak when wearing their masks, the static that seeped from that empty stare was enough to bristle his skin.

Without a word the masked Shinobi shifted his weight as he slid his hands into his pants pockets, taking on a unhurried demeanor before turning back toward the door.

It seemed clear that the ANBU wanted him to follow. Neji was certain. Why else would he have shown himself? Neji hoisted Mae up a little higher in his arms. She was breathing softly, and barely stirred as he carried her out into the chilly night.

The ANBU was a few meters ahead walking leisurely over the grass. Neji scowled. The man was likely enjoying this slow-paced assignment long before the lush in Neji's arms had spasmed into a coma, and the relaxing mid-night stroll to what was most likely Mae's lodgings, was probably just an added bonus for him.

Very Inconvenient.

Neji had many faces he wished to see. Team 11 in particular, along with Hinata. He would need to make an appearance at the Compound before long, and was anticipating the look on Hiashi's face as well, but judging by the bitter sweet aroma of red wine lofting up at him with Mae's every exhale, she weren't likely to wake by dawn.

The ANBU strolled down a quite block near to the memorial grounds.

 _The memorial grounds_. Just the thought of it made Neji's stomach tighten. Naruto had said that he'd been buried there in the Hyuga sector the day after his death. Personally, he decided to make it a point to avoid seeing the site. This was all surreal enough already.

The ANBU stopped before a small walk, an undeveloped plot with a dirt trail for a side walk that lead to an exceptionally large house. _This couldn't possibly be Mae's house,_ he thought. But, sure enough, the ANBU stood and drew his hands from his pockets and flicked his palm toward the door in an exaggerated show of sarcasm that read " _here you go!_ ," before he disappeared.

Neji swallowed his disbelief and made his way to the door. It was a large two story house, a quaint porch off the front, a small patio around the back. New, tidy, and clean on the outside, but the yard was rather plain aside from a frog riddled swamp that sang in the backyard. The lawn itself was overgrown. Could this really be Mae's house? He shifted her into one arm, wrapping her legs around his waist, resting her chin over one of his shoulders so that he could dig through her pockets for a key. Sure enough, the key fit the lock, and Neji stepped inside.

 _What could she possibly need all of this space for?_ He wondered as he glanced around the dark entryway. A staircase was the first thing to draw his attention, and just past it down the hall the kitchen opened up with a sliding glass patio door looking black and endless against the night. The house was very nice, and covered in tasteful matching décor. The proof of her success wasn't as gratifying for him as it probably was for her...Neji hadn't realized it before, but he supposed it likely that she were married now...

However, there were no family photos on the walls or counter tops. Maybe she wasn't married? Though, If not, how would she afford all of this on her own? Mae had been tenacious in many ways, but not so much in a professional sense. In fact, not at all. But, then where was her husband?

Neji ignored the sudden unfamiliar sensation of jealousy. Perhaps he was a shinobi away on a mission? How else could he possibly be away from the village during a lock-down?

It wasn't likely that he were a very good companion for her if that were the case. She hated any and all bound soldiers. Last time he checked she'd seemed to fear only ever having half of someone. She feared being tied down, too. No way she'd marry a Shinobi...but if she had...that _would_ explain the drinking.. Fifteen years can certainly change a person.

 _"Not here...you can't be here, too..."_

Neji recalled what she'd said when she had first laid eyes on him in the greenhouse. What a peculiar thing to say.

He carried her up the stairs, careful not to bump her sleeping frame against the walls as he rounded the platform. There were three bedrooms. The first was empty. The second had a maroon bedroll left out on the floor and a gloss black hang drum on a hook near an open closet. Clothes were strew about, some folded in stacks atop an elaborately carved wardrobe. It was a young mans room. Disheveled, but still mostly clean.

There was a dull ache in Neji's chest, one of both joy, and pain, too. His heart fluttered, then slowed as he glanced back down at Mae.

 _She'd had a son...?_

He'd never imagined her as a mother, but now that the thought had been put there, it made him immediately smile.

 _You had a son...how wonderful_ , he thought softly to himself. The imagined shinobi husband flashed back to mind. Neji supposed that whoever he was, he was lucky. Mae was a pesky, loud mouthed little fox, but those were also the things that made her so wonderful...and _incredibly_ hard to handle.

Neji had every intention to return to her when the war was through... Unfortunately he'd never had the chance...

Neji's smile grew a bit warmer. When she'd wake in a few hours and discover that he'd returned, she was sure to be upset with him. That seemed to have been her response to all of life's stress's in the past. Get mad and scream about it until it felt right again. But, she was practically a stranger to him now..

The last bedroom was definitely hers. He could tell by the smell of lemon grass and ginger, and the clothes at the end of the unmade bed. No pictures in here either. In fact there was hardly anything at all aside from the messy queen sized mattress sporting beige cotton sheets and a zither propped on a cushion in a nook seat window that overlooked the backyard. It was odd that her room was so empty when the rest of the house had been so meticulously furnished and decorated.

Neji lay her down on the flatter part of her untidy comforter and starred for a moment. She looked deep in sleep, a light sheen of perspiration glossing her skin in the low light from far off lanterns down on the streets. Why had Naruto asked him to see her? What could they possibly talk about? Her new life? It didn't make very much sense, but Naruto scarcely did, and Hokage or no, he couldn't have changed that much in fifteen years..

Maybe Naruto just wanted to be impish, showing that he knew Neji's secret affair, and to show that sneaking a fugitive out of the village all those years ago had been the right choice. She'd actually done well for herself. Even moved back to the very village she'd eluded, but now, as a free woman. Hers was the only mission he'd ever failed. In all actuality, he hadn't " _failed"_ , he'd heartlessly delivered her anyway, and only after walking around the village in guilty agony for upwards of an hour, had he turned back to fetch her. Of course she was already long gone by then...

Neji smiled down at Mae. Alone in the dark, with no one to witness it, he brushed a strand of curls from her brow with his finger tips. This was likely the very last chance he'd have to be this close to her. She was a wild, un-tameable thing...Her husband was a lucky man, indeed. She was beautiful. Drunk, or otherwise.

Neji let all of that go when he realized how bizarre it would be if either of her family members were to arrive home to find him standing over her the way that he was. Then again, it was well past mid-night. Shouldn't they already be here?

It was then that Neji noticed something else. Something that completely blew all of his prior assumptions sky high. In her closet there were sun dresses, work uniforms, and robes, and something that resembled laughably childish kitten print footy pajamas...but, there wasn't a single article of male clothing at all...

Neji's heart acted up again in a mixture of pity and glee.

 _She's a single mother?_

Neji stifled a chuckle with the back of his hand, and bit into his lip. Of course she was. As if she could ever get along with anyone long term without committing spousal homicide.

Neji decided that none of his engagements could be made until morning anyway, so he moseyed around the house a while. He'd already come this far to see her, per Naruto's request. Might as well stick around for the show when she woke up. Though he thought it might be best to write her a note and leave it on her nightstand to prevent any further incident. But once he'd actually managed to find a scrap of paper in a kitchen drawer and a pencil, he found he wasn't sure how to explain. After a moment of deliberation he decided that straight to the point would be best.

….

There was a soft plea of porcelain stirring is soapy water. A gentle drip... drip...drip... from the lazy kitchen faucet. It echoed through the still morning air like a lullaby. Morning light poured into her bedroom window through cotton shades, casting a bright dewy gleam across her bedsheets. The smell of fresh coffee was beckoning down the hall. A distinct sensation of Dejavu clung to that beautiful morning...or at least it did...until she sat up.

The room began to turn as crippling nausea merged with aching joints and light sensitivity, all brought upon her by the angry force of gravity. That pretty morning light became a retina-searing nightmare.

"Wwwhhhyyyy..." Mae groaned into her hands in an attempt to keep from puking all over the carpet. The night before had been a blur. One long and terrible blur of awful dreams. Watching her stumble home from work must have been a true sight to behold. Hopefully she hadn't made a spectacle of herself, but she wasn't feeling great about her odds.

Judging by the merciful aroma of fresh coffee in the air Mae realized that Haro must have gotten back a day early. She was excited to see him, and even more excited to hold onto him for an embarrassingly long time, but in order to do it she would need to stand up first.

Mae grumbled up onto her feet and clutched the wall to stay upright, and slowly started to shuffle down the hall, until noticing that she was still in her work uniform, so followed an agonizing u-turn to change. The last thing she needed was for her son to call her out and beat her to the moral of her pitiful little substance abuse story, that by now she knew all too well. It was definitely time to slow down, and the less he knew about how drunk she'd been the night before, the better.

Mae peeled herself from her clothes and swapped them for sweatpants, and a dull t-shirt before running her fingers through her curls and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. As satisfied as was possible, she turned toward the door to head back down the hall, until a scrap of paper on her night stand caught her attention. It was blindingly white beneath her headache, and the lettering was tauntingly small.

 _Hello Mae,_

 _I'm going to be blunt with you. You were a complete and utter wreck last night. It was embarrassing, even as a bystander. It is probably safe to assume that you're recollection of what you interpreted as a "dream" was long forgotten in your sleep. It wasn't a dream. I'm sitting in your kitchen. I've returned under rather peculiar circumstances, and not much is known yet as to whom, or why. You're probably alarmed that I just showed up like that. So, I suppose I owe you an apology. I wouldn't have known you were even in Konoha had Naruto not told me before instructing to pay you a visit. Hopefully it will bring you some semblance of comfort knowing that the Hokage has ordered ANBU surveillance for me at all times until this has been sorted out in order to ensure that I'm not a threat to you, or anyone else for that matter. Regardless, I'm sure this is quite startling, and understandably so. Thus, why I'm writing you this letter for you to read before you come down stairs. I'll be in the kitchen when you're ready to speak with me. Please don't do anything crazy._

 _-Neji_

 _P.S. I've removed all of the empty wine bottles from your room, and I've hidden your cutlery. Just in case._

Mae read it once, then twice, then a third time before pinching herself to be sure this were real. The dream she'd thought she'd had came flashing back. The greenhouse. He'd come out of the shadows with that same old placid expression, but he was different. He was older. Then she'd really lost it.

 _Holy shit...no...this is stupid...no way this is...some kind of sick prank..._

But there was only one way to be sure.

Mae walked cautiously down the corridor with a jackhammer in her chest. Once she reached the corner in the hall she froze before mustering the courage to peek. When she finally peered into the kitchen her eyes locked instantly with a pair that were opaque and impossibly familiar.

Mae flung herself against the wall out of sight as her heart tore open in her heavy chest. A wave of nausea swallowed her up then gave way to a dizzying adrenaline rush. _He already knew she was there!_

"Did you find the note?"

Mae's eyes widened as the sound of his voice sparked recognition in her memory. He sounded different. Lower, rougher, but still the same somehow...but this just couldn't be...

"Ye-ye-" Mae studdered horribly as her nerves sent out signals to every part of her body, aside from the ones that she needed.

"Then come out here. I've already told you not to act crazy." He demanded with impatience.

Somehow, Mae managed to inch her way into the room and caught his exquisite gaze. She kept inching little by little until she came right up to the counter against the wall. Mae didn't take her eyes from him for even a second as she stretched out her arm across the counter blindly searching for the knife block set that wasn't there.

He was holding one of her coffee mugs in his hand, looking bizarrely nonchalant as he took a sip while watching her search for her pairing knives, until he spoke.

"I hid them, remember...?"

"Wh-W-WHy do You Look Like That!?" Mae croaked frantically. She'd fully assessed the dead man standing before her, but was entirely unable to accept it.

Neji smirked coldly. "I could say the same about you..."

"...who are you..." She whispered again, making herself small against the wall as worry tinted her face.

Neji cocked a brow, looking irritated already. "This is going to be extremely hard for you to fathom, I'm sure, but I'd appreciate it if you would try your best." He began before taking another sip of coffee.

Even through the terrifying confusion his condescending introduction vexed her.

"And what's that supposed to mean?!" Mae spat angrily as she snapped her arms over her chest. She glared daggers at him, and would have thrown the cutlery had it not been out of reach, but all of that began to fade away as the man before her broke a smile.

"I can't believe I actually missed that..." Neji admitted softly, musing at her from across the kitchen.

Mae's eyes got wider as she searched him for a more plausible explanation. It couldn't be. Perhaps this was another dream..? Maybe she was still drunk? Maybe this was...

" _Neji..?"_

He gave one single nod before rapping his knuckles on the counter top. "Come have some coffee, and I'll explain. I'm willing to bet you feel like death after last night. Your ability to drink contradicts your size, you know."

Mae didn't move an inch.

Neji grit his teeth before making a conscious effort to relax his shoulders. He let out a long sigh as he went to the counter where an empty coffee mug sat out near the pot. He filled it, and a steady ribbon of hot steam billowed up from the cup almost as smoothly as his movement. Without skipping a beat he took her dormant hand and wrapped it around the mug.

Mae couldn't move, or blink, or breath. She could barely feel the heat of the porcelain beneath her fingertips. _His face...it was his face. It was..._

The shrill clattering of her mug on the kitchen tiles was the only thing capable of tearing her from her trance. She jumped and glanced down at the mess at their feet, then stared back up to Neji in time to see his face draw blank before he shook his head disapprovingly.

"I was...resurrected. Almost certainly for my Byakugan. The resurrection technique wasn't solid enough for the caster to see it all the way through, and the nature of the jutsu is unknown. But...somehow...I'm here. There. A basic outline of events for you. Now, will you sit down?"

Mae's wide eyed stare never receded, but a definite no was made clear by a small ripple in her locks as she shook her head.

Neji shut his eyes tight and pinched the bridge of his nose, waiting for his frustration to ease before speaking again.

"So, this house. How can you afford it?" He had only intended to change the subject matter to something a little less unfathomable, but instead he'd sparked hellfire in Mae's crimson eyes.

"What in the _Hell_ is That supposed to mean!? Like I can't afford a house on my own?! Just what are you insinuating!?" Mae spat poisonously.

Neji rolled his eyes. He knew exactly what would follow.

Mae stomped forward to strike him with a balled fist, until her foot closed down on a shard of porcelain that slid through the puddle of coffee on the linoleum, sending her flying backward, spine aimed for the counters edge. Neji stepped forward and reached out, grasping her by the waist, one of his hands behind her head cushioning the contact between the counter and her cerebellum.

"You're welcome." He said very flatly, looking rather un-enthused. "I'm sure a concussion would do wonders for your hangover."

He was still holding her at the angle that she fell, his knuckles digging into the counter top's edge, but it didn't seem to bother him in the least. His palm was cupped around the base of her neck, fingers wrapped all the way around to the jugular. Mae felt uncomfortably small. Neji seemed to notice it too. He glimpsed down at his own hand coiled through her hair on either sides of her throat.

"..let me go..." Mae whispered, fear swelling in her chest. He was much to large to be the Neji she remembered. He'd been slender, and a bit on the shorter side for a young man of eighteen. But this man...This was a man she did not know.

Neji's eyes met her's with concern as he recognize her vulnerability, and without a word he set her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" He asked very evenly.

Mae held in her breath, a pregnant silence buzzing through the air. "I don't think I am alright..." Mae whispered as her skin started to pale.

Without a gesture, or hand sign, or even blinking, the veins around Neji's opalescent eyes flexed and pulsed with a focus so powerful and abrupt that Mae flinched as her breath caught in her throat.

He gave her a once over, his brows angular and harsh with focus. "You're fine...well, no different than before. You're still quite frail-" His voice trailed off as his gaze seemed to catch just above her navel. The look on his face gave Mae's heart a jolt. His head slowly turned to the side as if he were trying to glimpse something from a more precise angle..

"That's not what I mean..." Mae interjected, trying to ignore his unnerving expression. "I mean, I think, I think I'm crazy...You're not here...but you seem so real..like... this isn't a dream... at all this time...And _What_ are You _Starring At-?!"_

Mae's frustrated growl turned to a gasp as Neji very suddenly glided to his knees, eyes piercing into her stomach with an intensity that was both awe inspiring and terrifying all at once. His byakugan seemed to glow in a manner that she'd never seen before.

"Wh-What Are You Doing!? Why are you so Close?!" She hollered as she flattened herself against the wall, but with no use. His face was inches from her stomach.

 _Had this always been there...? This small bit of strange color inside of her...?_ Neji wondered very sternly, Mae's protest falling far into the background of his thoughts. Whatever it was, it was similar to that of a disk of anodized titanium. It shifted its hue as it gently rose and fell with her every breath. Neji's mind went back to a chemistry class in grade school. They'd dropped oil into vials filled with water, and the two liquids had separated perfectly from one another, the oil floating almost magically in the center of the glass. This strange, seemingly missing ovular space in Mae's abdomen appeared to do the same. It just floated there detached from any other physical structure, or tenketsu. It appeared almost four dimensional some how. It didn't change its perfect shape no matter how many angles he viewed it from. It was so flat, and thin that it were practically translucent. In fact, the only thing that gave it any distinction at all was the way Mae's faint red chakra seemed to spill like liquid smoke over the horizontal edges of the disk, pouring into it from all sides before it simply disappeared into its reflective, metallic center.

His focus was barely broken when Mae covered her stomach with her hands. A silly notion that did very little to block his Fluoroscopic gaze, but none the less he let his eyes settle before glancing back up at Mae from where he was crouched at her waist. She was blushing a brilliant red that dyed her skin all the way down her neck, and a clenched pout had fixed to her lips.

"Don't look at my insides, you freak!" She demanded with a squeak as she clutched at her stomach a little harder.

"Do you...?" Neji bit into his question. It weren't likely she knew a damn thing about the missing space inside of her. Neji could feel that his Byakugan was much more powerful than it had been, and with his old pair of eyes he never would have seen it. So, Instead he shook his head and began plucking little bits of coffee mug from the floor.

After a moment, Mae knelt down beside him, too, and began to do the same. The silence was strange, but very still. It contradicted Neji's thoughts. He couldn't shake the image of that indescribable gap that seemed to be eating her from the inside out. How long had it been there? What was it? He would need to do some research to see if he could identify it before bringing it up. No point in sending her into a panic just yet.

He took a sideways glance at her. She was now very placid. Of course, she had once again accepted this as some kind of elaborate dream. No matter. He would allow her to believe that for now. At least she was calm. With all that in mind, Neji had the sudden notion to play with her while he still could.

"Do you dream of me often, Mae?" He asked with a rather vulpine infliction.

He watched her eyes widen for a moment before she began grinding her jaw, looking annoyed, and very red.

"Shut up." She hissed, keeping her gaze on the floor.

"Oh, by the way, I've been meaning to give my commendation. I noticed one of the bedrooms upstairs belongs to a boy. I assume you have a son? Congratulations, Mae.." Neji bid with impeccable civility. Though, he hadn't expected his politeness to merit the sudden conscience-stricken look she had when all the color drained instantly from her face. It was in this moment that she seemed to come to terms with the heavy weight of reality.

This was no dream.

Mae stood, and Neji stood as well, studying her curiously. She was gazing up at him looking sicker than ever, immobilized by something unseen. He raised a brow but got nothing in response to his rhetorical question.

"Mae?" He asked, and suddenly her small voice chimed ever so faintly.

"..haro..." she murmured.

Neji looked confused, and concerned for her state of mind. Had she suffered a psychotic break from all this?

"I named him Haro..." She nearly whispered.

Neji seemed to catch up, and gave a little bow of his head as he smiled warmly at her.

"A wonderful name... Once more, Congratulations. How old is he?"

Mae swallowed hard, getting paler by the second, and Neji couldn't understand why.

"...he's fifteen..." She admitted nervously, a harsh break in her timid voice. A deep and burning crimson grew from the apples of her cheeks, replacing the pale, rushing so fast that Neji feared she might pass out from the thrumming he could hear inside her chest. She was acting so strangely. He knew that were to be expected, but even so, these odd physical and emotional displays were-

"...he's fifteen..." She stammered again, eyes welling before they went spilling down her rosy cheeks. "...and he looks just like you..."

An empty moment passed, as empty as space before the universe was born, and then Neji's heart began to beat harder than it ever had in either one of his lives. It was painful. It wouldn't let the air into his lungs, and it threatened him down onto his knees. It took all of his strength to stay upright. The only thing that kept him there was her eyes. When recognition had finally fell around him, those warm red eyes seemed to be all he could see.

Mae.. She'd had a son...

 _His_ son...

"Haro..." Neji said through a quivering breath as his world began to spin and spin. The name sounded odd coming from his own mouth. "Are you sure he's..."

Mae's new and piercing expression violently nipped his query in the bud before he'd even had the chance to finish his sentence. The doubt that had stabilized him for that moment slipped away, and Neji finally fell to his knees. Coffee seeped into his stolen khakis, but he didn't care. He couldn't really see, or feel, or hear anything at all. In fact he barely noticed Mae as she gently knelt down beside him.

So, this had been the reason...He needed to realize what he'd left behind all those years ago. _Who_ he'd left behind...Both of them all on their own.

He'd had every intention to return to her.. _.Did she know that?_

Mae gasped when Neji very suddenly wrapped his arms around her, burying his face into her curls. A pause fell around them until a broken question breathed in her ear.

"..Were you alone..." He sounded afraid for her answer.

After a moment of stunned silence Mae gave a soft smile as her trembling hands rose up to his neck. She circled him in and held tightly. She didn't have to speak for him to know that the answer was yes.

No solution, nor stability had come with this visit to Mae's house. His return to Konoha had done nothing more but bloom uncertainty that was already stifling his conscience. And now, he had a son..?

There was a universe worth of pride and joy that filled his entire soul, but an equal sensation of fear that crippled him there on the floor. He had a son, one that had lived for fifteen long years without him.

Had Mae been angry? Had she raised him to loathe his deceased father for choosing duty over family? Leaving her as a broke teenage mother to raise him all alone? Neji's embrace enclosed around her a little more tightly as all of these painful questions whorled through his anguished mind, but only one had managed its way out of his dry, and unavailing mouth.

"..Where is he..?"


	31. Chapter 31

_Part 1_

 _"Could you Imagine it? Killing your best friend...Having to live with that everyday...?"_

Haro couldn't get Hakaru's words to leave his head. There was a mission to attend, and a very bizarre and grief stricken fisherman in their midst, and Gakuto's character remained humorless and torrid as ever, but Haro was unable to focus on anything but her.

Sumoki was at his side, walking down the trail to Konoha looking despondent even though they were so close to home. She had been silent and cold ever since the incident with Hejime. It had taken them much longer than it should have to return to the village, too, for their wounded civilian couldn't bound through trees even if he _had_ still been in one piece, and so their pace was slow and steady. No one was offering up a hand to carry the poor man, either. Gakuto had decided it better to take their time despite the gash on Hejime's side that was beginning to fester. Sensei had forced him to stumble and limp all the way to the Cloud and back. It was actually a wonder that Hejime hadn't died on the way. Sumoki had done what she could, but it was very deep and outside of her 'petty flesh wound' expertise.

 _"Having to live with that everyday..."_

Haro glanced at her once more. It looked heavy. She looked heavy...But how could he help her? His arm didn't hurt at all, and though that were a small white lie, telling her hadn't seemed to help.

The gate was in view. He could buy her some lunch after going to see his Ama? Maybe that would light up that dusky gaze of hers, if only just a little. Haro kept starring at her out of the corner of his eye, tracing the lines of her face with interest. It was then he noticed something. It was almost invisible against her snowy locks, but a cotton bloom from the prairie had snagged near her temple. Haro lifted his hand and plucked it from her hair. Her eyes went wide, and by the time she snapped her gaze up to his, Sumoki was entirely beet red.

Haro smiled and flicked the fuzz ball at her nose, and she blew it from her path with a huff and rolled her onyx eyes before they once more narrowed at his own. He had made her mad..

But she smiled, too...

A sudden flurry of cold wind carried over head a dark blanket of clouds. It set in without warning and Gakuto had to catch the cigarette that flew from his lips.

"That's weird.." Haro mumbled, shrugging at Sumoki who returned the gesture.

"There weren't any clouds in the sky..." Hakaru added.

A particularly strong gust made them brace against it, each shielding their eyes from the dirt. It forced Hejime to his knees, and his painful gasp was nearly lost in the roar of the weather. Haro lunged forward and hauled the fisherman to his feet.

Gakuto had turned on the path to stare down his newest student, glaring, looking dark and expectant before his gaze sharpened on the man.

"Some weather were having..." Gakuto rumbled.

The man said nothing as he gripped at his wound, his other hand draped around Haro's shoulders. He was leaning heavily, panting while squinting through pain. Haro could feel Hejime's tremors vibrate with his every exhale. He was feverish, too.

The team was struck with horror when Gakuto drew the long tendrils of his Urumi sword from the leather bound hilt on his back. Haro wasn't sure of what to do. Hejime was in trouble, and in serious pain, and now Gakuto wanted to kill him? Was this all a part of his mind game? Haro was panicking, eying Sumoki and Hakaru for clues, but both looked on, confused and horrified.

"Hold on-" Sumoki spoke up, raising her hands slowly to defuse whatever were happening, but a sudden change in weather nulled the gesture. The winds shifted quickly. They left as swiftly as they had come, and the silence that followed wasn't right. The birds had gone with the wind. The village ahead was quiet. The only sounds were Hejime's labored breaths. And then it came. Fog thickened in the air, it crawled up from the grass and seeped from tree branches. It poured from stone and earth, clouding everything in mere seconds.

"Get away from him, Haro!" Gakuto bellowed and lunged toward him.

There was no processing what happened next. One moment Haro was with them, and then he was gone, jostling in the grip of an entirely different man. He looked like Hejime, if that were truly his name, but he was running fast, and Haro couldn't move a muscle.

"Haro!" someone called, but the sound was lost to Hejime's swift steps, and the pressure of the still and heavy mist. The wound at his side was near to Haro's cheek, and it was still bleeding, but it didn't seem to slow him down the way it had. Was he faking? No, that were impossible. They had all seen the wound and it was definitely real. Looking at it so closely now he once again concluded its authenticity. So, how was he this fast? And how was it that he himself could not move?

Kagishibari no Jutsu? No. Hejime was running. Kanashibari then...and a powerful one, for even his blood felt frozen in his veins.

Fuck. Haro cursed himself. His heart was in throws that sent sharp pains down into his shoulders. He wasn't a Shinobi. He was afraid. If he had ever possessed a shred of bravery, it was long gone now. The man was so fast, and able to retain an immobility jutsu to the point where Haro could barely breath. What was he going to do to him?

How was he going to get out of this...?

Haro tried to swallow, but the pressure on his body barely allowed it. His mother had been right. If he didn't figure this out. If team Gakuto couldn't save him?

 _"I'm so sorry Ama."_

….

"Come on Mae, It's going to be fine. Don't be nervous, and don't freak out...oh gods what if I say something weird..."

Mae was giving herself a pep talk in her bedroom mirror preparing for the surreal day ahead. Haro would be back from his mission. They would meet, and hopefully it would go much more smoothly than her first encounter with the reincarnation of his father.

Neji had sat in her kitchen the day before calmly going over it all. Asking for photographs she didn't have, (that had been awkward, and hard to explain away) and asking her what he looked like, what he liked to do. It had been strange, but it had been nice, too... Though, once he'd towered up from his seat to leave Mae had found herself struggling with the urge to coil around his leg and beg him to stay.

Neji had a lot of things to attend to that first day back, and he deserved his space. He had friends and family to reaquaint with and that was a whole awkward mess she wasn't sure she should be a part of. Still, letting him leave proved to be difficult. After all, the last time he walked out her door he'd never come back.

And what if he _didn't_ come back.? What if none of it were real? Those were still questions that plagued her.

Once he'd finished his coffee and left he hadn't exactly solidified anything more than _"I'll be back tomorrow.."_ Once he'd imparted that much, Mae had gone to work to clean up the mess she had made the night before. The greenhouse had been a flutter with the gossip of his return, so she found that it had to be true. She wasn't dreaming.

It had been impossible to focus on work. It felt like a ridiculous waste of time, and when she finally returned home that night she'd found herself alone at her island counter starring at the barstool. His coffee mug was still out on the table like his ghost had left it there. Neji didn't make another visit that night. Of course, she hadn't asked him too...not _aloud_ anyway, but she was sure her face was just screaming for him to stay as he turned and closed the door. Mae wondered where he'd slept that night. Probably the Hyuga compound...that would only make sense...But, why he'd want to return back to that place brand free was beyond her understanding.

Mae smoothed out her yellow dress in the mirror and took a deep breath through her nose before glancing over her shoulder, and was surprised by the time. It was nearing noon. Haro should have been back by now. Mae was trembling with an excitement so powerful, it was as if she'd eaten the grounds right out of the coffee maker. She flew down the stairs and practically leaped into her shoes before tumbling out the door headed for the Hokage compound. Haro would have to be there, and then they'd walk home together, and then they would wait for Neji...

Mae's stomach and heart kept switching places all the way to Naruto's office. One minute she wanted to sing for joy, the next she wanted to vomit. All of that anxiety was bubbling when she opened his office door, and it exploded like a bad science project when she locked eyes with Neji leaning casually against a bookshelf on the far side of the room. He had new clothes. Ones that suited him, maybe, just a little too well, for Mae found her mind stripped of all that she were about to say.

Neji nodded politely, and Mae was sure she caught the corner of his mouth turn to a small half-smile. She wondered what he were doing in Naruto's office but the Hokage sighing a deep and heavy sigh pulled her gaze to his desk chair.

"Mae! How nice to see you.." The sarcastic looking blond shuddered while lacing his fingers beneath his chin to rest his elbows on his desk. "I suppose you're here to ask me why Haro's 30 seconds late?"

Mae couldn't keep her nose from crinkling when a scowl took her lips. She raked her brain for a retort, but Naruto was right.

The dry and airy chuckle of an old hyena sounded behind her and Mae jumped straight up and squeaked before wheeling around to find an old man slumped in a chair, blind eyes starring through her with contradictory focus.

"I'm sorry..I didn't notice you there.." Mae admitted awkwardly as she gave the elder a small bow. Embarrassment colored her red, and she was reluctant to turn around to show the others who still had the gift of sight.

"This is the one!" The man shouted. He had a knobby cane in his left hand and he struck it against the carpet for emphasis before licking his lips. "This is the one, Naruto! The slug woman!"

"What?!" Mae cried as Naruto began to chuckle. She wasn't sure but she thought she caught a small and amused grunt at her back from Neji as well. _Slug_ Woman?! What in the Hell kind of a title was That?!

Mae squirmed uncomfortably. "I think you're mistaken, sir, because you and I have never met."

"This is Akihori. My grandfather..well, sort of." Naruto explained with a cheerful smile. It was discreet but he was drawing lines with his mischievous blue eyes between Mae and Neji while wearing a peevish grin. "Haro has helped to take care of him a time or two."

The grandfathers grin was crooked, and his rusty old teeth were all pointing in different directions. "Used to stoke my fire and clean up the hovel. Always polite, that brat was.." He crackled.

Mae couldn't keep herself from glancing at Neji to see if the mention of Haro had changed his face at all.

"I had been meaning to speak with you, slug woman." The old man's hands were trembling with age, but now they shook with force as his toothy smile spread unsettlingly. "You quite frightened me before, but I've done some searching for you, and everything will be alright." He assured, sounding content, and nodding like a mad man while nipping at a smoking pipe. "Everything will be just fine."

Mae glanced back at the two of them for some translative assistance. Neji looked annoyed as he eyed the cryptic fool, while the blond Uzumaki looked entirely drained. He sighed and lumbered up from his desk, firey robes splaying over his shoulders.

"Come on, Aki-san, you're scaring her." Naruto urged calmly as he came to rest a hand on the elders knobby shoulder. "Don't worry Mae, he's just a little...uh, 'patchy' now-a-days. Every once in a while he starts figure-eighting in there and you just gotta let it work itself out." He explained while waggling a finger at the old mans bald, liver-spotted head.

Mae understood but she couldn't shake the feeling that something else were amiss. _He'd spoken with such certainty..._

"Alright grandpa, why don't you have a nap upstairs. I'll have Himawari make you some tea." Naruto made to help the man from his chair, but he stiffened when a powerful wind rattled the panes of his office windows. Darkness blotted the bright afternoon before shrouding over completely, and tension slipped into the room like a cool draft.

Naruto shared a weighted glance with Neji, whose Dojutsu scoured the village horizon.

"Near the gate just outside the wall, Something's coming."

The Shinobi were gone from the room no sooner had Neji spoken, but not before he demanded indomitably.

"Stay Here."

Mae was stunned, standing alone in the center of the room with the frazzle-brained fossil. She'd had a lot of ideas about how that morning might go, but none had been anything like this. And how could she stay put? If there was an attack at the gate, Haro would be near by...

Mae starred the old Akihori down trying to deliberate whether he'd be alright on his own, and when clarity suddenly fell over his cabalistic expression Mae felt the hairs on her neck stand straight up.

"What are you waiting for..?" He croaked, blowing out a cloud of thick smoke. "..Do you think it will let you die?"

His tittering was frightening, especially by the smile and the sentient brilliance somehow gleaming in his cloudy eyes. What could he possibly mean? She had to remind herself that he were insane. But through the fear and unease his words were filling her with energy.

"What are you waiting for?" The man asked again.

There was a trembling in her spine that followed his words. Haro was in trouble, of that she was certain. Paranoia had gifted her a great many false flags in her years as a mother, but this time it was different.

Mae sprinted from the compound leaving the senile old relic behind while trying to make sense of his words. One particular statement had stained itself to memory.

 _"..Do you think it will let you die?"_

A shroud of gray hovered over the ground like a beast as Mae neared the main entrance to the Village. From the fog people were emerging. Families fled from it with their children, the mist clinging to their shoulders as they appeared grief stricken and lost. At the same time Shinobi and ANBU dove into it at terrifying speeds, carving streams of clearer air like tunnels through snow. There was shouting in the air coming from all around the village. They were under attack by whatever hid behind the fog, and Haro was somewhere within. Mae followed after one of their paths. She could just make out the staggering walls of the Village perimeter. "Turn back!" Some one called as something bulleted past her. Blurs of dark were zigzagging around her as Konoha descended to defend. Mae waded frantically, blind to anything but the gate as she barreled through it out into what would have been the road if she could see anything more than the gravel at her feet. The faint outline of the trees ahead guided her farther into the fray when her eyes suddenly caught something.

Four men were bounding toward her, each with identical silhouettes, and when they were a few feet away Mae found them to be exactly alike. Tall, broad, and in no hurry, and the reason was soon made clear. Meelee attacks ricochet from outstretched palms that glowed cerulean through the haze. When a swift kunoichi and her squad fell across their path in the fray, all four of the towering men turned their backs to Mae and struck their targets with fluid hands. Mae didn't know what they'd done, but all three of the young ninja fell limp to the dirt.

Mae tried to run but was late. Eight white eyes circled back and bore down at her with potency. Mae recognized them immediately. These were Hyuga, but none bore the cursed mark.

Mae didn't wait to see more. She spun on a whim and took off sprinting, losing purchase to the wet grass underfoot. When a large, black bird swooped down through the haze, carving through cloud on jagged wings it caused her to stagger back. It's call was shrill and much too high pitched. The four Hyuga closed in swiftly, and snatched her up from the ground while the other three followed behind. One had plumed into smoke as a kunai struck the grass at its feet and then the image was lost to the murky smog as they fled.

Mae couldn't scream. She had fallen onto her stomach just before they'd grabbed her, and she still held desperately to fistfuls of dirt. Mae writhed on the shoulder of the tall and vacant-eyed Hyuga. His expression was void and un-living. Not like Neji's. It didn't even flinch when she'd managed to smear the clumps of dirt and gravel into its eyes. But when she hooked her fingernails into it's eyelids he started to retaliate. The Hyuga grit its teeth and snarled, glaring at her before tightening its vice like grip around her waist. It was then she realized why she couldn't scream. Mae couldn't breath. Between the pressure and the panic light was fading fast, but Mae was more than determined to avoid whatever they had in mind to do to her. She dangled down in his grip, her head hanging at his waist. She felt her arms go immediately numb, and the gravitational tug of a powerful stride filled her face with blood. Through bleary eyes and all the heat in her temples she caught a small glint of something in the mans belt. Mae gripped it and finally screamed as she threw herself upward against his clutch, plummeting a tri-dagger into his throat.

The two others had disappeared, and to Mae's horror, the one beneath her now evaporated into the air. She hadn't realized that they were high in the trees in mid leap. She choked on a scream. There wasn't any time for it anyway. Mae hit the ground, a sickening ripple following the initial thud that nearly burst her ear drums.

She'd landed legs down before splaying on her back sucking air into deflated lungs. Searing pain and the cold sensation of wet traveled up from her shins. Mae was already cringing and teary before she chanced a look at the damage. They were bad. Mae had never seen a human bone before..

She trembled on the forest floor, flopping onto her belly with a gasp before digging into the earth with her elbows, dragging the rest of herself along while fighting each new wave of agony.

Mae was blind to the veil of gray. Haro... She would never find him now.

A growl bruised her throat as a twig snared against her protruding shin bones. The pain was white. It exploded in the backs of her eyes like a firecracker gone off in her palm. She'd tried to stay quiet in case the unbranded clan members were searching, but all was silent aside from her own groans, that was until the soft sound of leaves rustling near her made her whimper in a desperate attempt to cease her crying. She struggled up onto an elbow and glanced back in time to spy a man flashing toward her in a dark blur. His eyes were glowing pale, and there was no seal across his brow.. When the Hyuga emerged from the confounding speed Mae gasped to find Neji looking angrier than anyone she'd ever seen.

"I _Told You_ to **_Stay_ _!_** " He growled, scanning her body with a seething fervor in his eyes. Deep veins bulged in his temples, straining as he glared at her.

"Neji!" She forgot about her legs, and the state she was in and grabbed him with all her strength by the collar of his navy blue Haori.

"Find Haro!" She cried.

Neji's glare deepened as he glanced back down at her legs before he slowly swept his gaze around the foggy woods. He caught something familiar. His own chakra was hovering like a spiders web at a far off distance. If that were Haro then he were much too far away to leave Mae in the grass. He made to pick her up but she struggled against him.

"I'll make it back! Just _Find Him_ , Neji!" She screamed, shoving her hands hard into his chest.

"You'll bleed to death!" He roared as he tore the obi from around his waste and split it down the middle with a sharp tear. He tied it roughly, using force to make it tight enough to slow the wound. Mae winced and a sob escaped her, but Neji was caught up in damage control. He was looking down at her body with ferocious intensity, tallying off a long list of internal concerns.

Both knew that a trip back to the compound to get her to safety would lessen the chances of finding their son alive. He was a rookie caught in a real battle, and the odds were towering against him. A choice had to be made, and she'd already made it.

Neji took off after the mirror image of his chakra. It wavered in the distance through a screen of darting colors, but his was stationary, hovering in the grip of something terribly black.

…

Haro wished he could see his Ama. If only to remind her that he loved her.

The woman had come from the mist like a ghost, gliding instead of walking, black hair like a veil to the forest floor. Bone white robes hung from her like a tapestry of snow, but the hems were stained a deep and sickly shade of mar.

When she stopped a breath away from him and bore her blank eyes into his, she had slipped the red surgical mask from her chin...

There was nothing there.

Haro wished he could see his Ama to tell her he was sorry.

Hejime had him up in his clutch, hanging like a stiff rag on a line, and the mouth-less woman was shifting fluent fingers in a long and seamless string of hand signs. Neither spoke to one another so the only sound to haunt him was the heavy rhythm of his heart sputtering as his ears filled with blood. Haro couldn't breath both by the jutsu caging his body, and the grip closing his throat, and he knew he were about to black out until the woman finally spoke when a large and weathered Raven came to rest on her shoulder.

"Hold him steady, my love." The raven whispered tenderly to Hejime as her hand signs began to form. Black ink poured from the womans eyes and Haro felt his pulse veer painfully. The streams slithered and ran down her arms and sleeves, spouting from her fingertips where it solidified and took shape. Her hand had become the razor edge of a scalpel, the other a thin, circular clamp, each looking cold and terrible.

Haro watched in dizzying horror as she turned them on herself. The woman dug out her own eye and let it slip into the grass. A faint wet noise and a catch in the ravens mouth sounded as the womans jaw flexed within. The empty socket began to bleed.

"This cursed seal protects the Doujutsu Kekkei Genkai in death..." The ghoulish demon explained as her voice leveled against the missing sensation in her skull. She thrust her bloody thumb across Haro's forehead. "But it does nothing for the living..."

The raven fluttered as she prepped her tools zeroing in toward where he hung helplessly off the ground.

"I was so thrilled to find you Haro, son of Neji... When you're father slipped from my grasp he took with him what is rightfully mine. I'll need this eye you possess so that I may finally retrieve it.. And your mother...I am truly fortunate to have stumbled upon such a rare find..."

Haro tried with all of his remaining strength to free himself, but Hejime was limitless, holding him as solid as stone. Now his mother was in danger and Haro recoiled, his heart writhing at the thought _. This was his fault._ It was all his fault. They could be on the road, singing, dancing, splurging for street food and smiling like they used to..

"Now hold still little one...It will all be over soon..."

 _"I'm going to die like this..,"_ he thought to himself as the world began to slow. The clamp was close, its onyx edges looked slick. He could feel the cold seeping from her strange jutsu as it made to slip beneath his eyelid. She'd surely kill him when she was through, and Haro recognized his own tragic disappointment with himself. What was it for? Why had he gone and traded in his quiet, safe existence for this?!

Hejime growled loudly before Haro found himself limp in the wet grass, sputtering on the air that suddenly filled his lungs. The woman was shoved from her position in front of him by a man in navy robes, long hair tied at his waist. He was tall and angular, and Haro recognized his clan through silhouette alone. A Hyuga had come to save him, and just in time. The man had his back to Haro, parrying Hejime's attacks and forcing his own silent palms in for deep blows to the chest. Hejime was barely standing when he somehow managed to shunshin away with the long gone woman and her hideous raven.

The danger had fled, and Haro was alone with the stranger now, and so grateful that gasps of relief were escaping from his heaving chest. Haro stood on shaking limbs as he regained his composure, studying the man when he turned to finally face him. Byakugan were calculating him with a stern glare. This man was familiar. Painfully, and unbelievably familiar. Haro felt once more like he couldn't really breath starring down his father. Or at least, a man who looked just like he imagined he would.

"Can you run-"

The sound of his voice was stern and commanding, and the solid tone almost made him flinch. Haro nodded, unable to find his own voice.

"Then follow me."

The man sped off so fast that Haro could barely bound after him.

"The village is that way.!" Haro called ahead to the Hyuga who was leading them off into the deeper part of the woods outside the gate.

"It's Mae." The Shinobi shouted. The mention of her name filled Haro with renewed dread.

They reached her as the fog began to clear, letting back to the earth bleach bright sunshine. Mae was sitting half propped against the trunk of a tree with mangled legs.

"Haro!" Mae cried as her son flew to her side. She clutched at his jaw, looking him over for damage as if she weren't the one bleeding all over the underbrush. "Are you alright!?"

Haro couldn't speak. His mother looked too pale, and a stick was protruding from her shoulder. There were bloody finger smudges all around the wound so Haro knew she'd tried to remove it.

"We've gotta get you help, Okay?" He asked with a shaky voice as he lifted her up off the ground. The Hyuga lead them back, just a few paces ahead, his expression stoic and severe, and still just as hauntingly familiar. Haro had seen those features many, many times before, lesser versions of them at least. He still kept that photograph in his pocket...

...

 ** _: Hey guys! I'm not dead! Idk if you were wondering or anything but, yeah, I'm alive. I am so sorry about that wait, but this plot is fighting me back all of a sudden, and I want to give a huge thanks to those of you who have reviewed and followed! It means the world and was pretty much the only thing that saved me from this terrible writers block funk._**

 ** _Another huge, HUGE Thank You to Kiyuuni for enduring all the rough drafts I've been sending of this story! THANK YOUUU!_**

 ** _Part 2 of this chapter I'm posting just after the holidays, which reminds me_**

 ** _Happy Holidays!_**


	32. Chapter 32

Neji fled the Hokage compound at a brisk walk, ducking under the lantern light that colored the dark streets a cold shade of orange. Winter crept closer with each coming night, and he could see his breath in the air, and feel its bite in the tips of his fingers.

The council followed the day after the attack and ran well after dark, and it was there that Neji noticed that he had yet to truly recognize his own age.

Naruto's council were wise in years, and though frustration, fear, and outrage drove them desperate for answers, none appeared as restless as the Resurrected Hyuga. He couldn't keep his leg from bouncing, and his focus kept shifting between thoughts almost as swiftly as his borrowed fingers had strummed the arm of his chair.

As a young man he had been patient and composed, as it simply came naturally by way of disposition. But, something about that had changed. Now, suddenly half the age of all the elders in that room, and he had barely retained the patience of a caffeinated seven year old.

Although he'd only been half present during the council, things were beginning to fall into place, and none of it spelled happily ever after. During one point in the meeting, a point at which Neji had been fully invested in the proceedings, Haro had been called to report, and he'd delivered the rather confounding motive behind the attack that still remained partially unanswered.

 _She_ had wanted Neji's Byakugan, nearly settled for Haro's, and had also taken deadly interest in Mae. Neji and the council knew well enough to rule out coincidence, and medical examinations were underway to determine how Mae, a tiny, internally stunted herbalist without any real relation to the shinobi world could possibly be of value to The Woman in White. The woman who had been the puppeteer behind the resurrected, and every single solid clone that had killed eleven Konoha shinobi, not including the eighteen civillians a few months prior, along with the three man squad who'd been deployed to track her shortly after the Blackout.

The fate of that tracking squad had been made clear during the attack. They'd taken up arms against Konoha with dead, and empty eyes, their earth release technique scarring the gates of the village like a great beast had pawed the earth, but those young shinobi had not been the only ones.

Neji's own father had descended upon the same village that he had once defended, wielding Jukenho infused with that strange chakra-less magic.

 _He wasn't alive._

Even now, Neji had to keep reminding himself of that. _Gods, he wasn't alive, was he?_

Neji had been forced to make a decision. Go after the woman and attempt to free his father and the other Hyuga, leaving Mae wounded far from the village; or rescue Mae and let The Woman escape to return full force and once again compromise the safety of Konohagakure.

It was a choice he had made in an instant, but it had not been an easy one.

Mae's condition was stable, and that were a shock when considering her lack of chakra. She had a gruesome compound fracture for each of her shins, three broken ribs, and bruising to her spine from force of impact. Not to mention all the puncture wounds sustained from the forest floor when she'd landed. It were no small miracle that she had been dropped feet first. Also equally miraculous, Haro had come away shaken, but unscathed.

Looking back on the events of his return made him cringe. Neji had wanted desperately to meet his son under somewhat normal circumstances, as normal as could be when considering. His first glimpse of his son, however, had been in the fray of an ambush. After thwarting off the woman and her lackey, and turning around to finally see him..

Mae had warned him that Haro had suffered the brand by inheriting his Byakugan. However she had failed to mention that he'd only developed one.

It was seeing his other eye that struck Neji firmly in the chest. It was red, and striking when contrasted by the other. Deep, sanguine, and warm just like her's...

Haro had been starring up at him through the fog, pale and breathing hard against his shock. There was recognition in his mismatched gaze, but no time to bring it to light.

Even now, Neji still hadn't had the time to speak with either Haro, or his mother. During his testimony the boy had kept glancing at him, and naturally, Neji had done the same. The two had plenty to say to one another, but the middle of a nerve wracking council meeting had obviously not been the right place to acquaint.

Perhaps it were not so surprising that Neji was still incapable of focusing on any one thing. So many feelings, not to mention physical sensations were plaguing him at once, and another mystery, one he held in secret, certainly wasn't granting him any comforts. _He couldn't understand why he weren't exhausted?!_ On an emotional level he were practically dead once more, but his shoulders refused to unwind while every other muscle in his body vibrated with an impatient energy.

That same energy swept him over the mostly quiet streets between glowing lantern shadows with his hands folded into his Haori. The path he took was one he knew he shouldn't, but he hurried down the road in the direction of the hospital until the threat of being stopped by any one of the council attendee's subsided. He'd seen, spoken, and felt quite enough for one day.

He'd already made his rounds and suffered a handful of nervous breakdowns when Hinata had introduced him to his Niece and Nephew, both eerily reminiscent of their fathers boisterous character. But the true blow to the head had been seeing Gai blubbering in his wheelchair, praising his return with that genuine trust and optimism he and Lee where know for. It were painful to see what the man had lost, but if anyone could suffer happily it would be Gai, and Neji had smiled to see him still so unwavering. Lee had been a literal bucket of tears. He hadn't changed much, physically or psychologically, and Neji was relieved. His best friend still held the utmost faith in him. And Tenten...

She had simply wrapped her arms around him and cried.

It was a wordless gesture that he was thankful for... There were pieces of their history that Neji weren't ready to discuss. Surely she knew about Mae and Haro. So, clearly she knew what he had done... It had been left unsaid, for now, and Neji wondered how long it would be before his disloyalty was brought to light.

A tree line beside the road was obstructing soft light from the other side. It were hard to see through the smudges of tangled branches and leaves, all pitch black, and silhouetted, but Neji knew exactly what lay across the road just beyond. He slowed to a stop listing to voices in the distance, muffled, but still a bit sharp in the cold air. He veered from the path and emerged from the trees at the gate to the burial grounds. He'd forbidden himself from coming here, but still could not stay away. At least not this time.

A gathering of candles within the grounds held a warm glow, and Neji recognized that death held more weight than it used to.

The night was calm and quiet, aside from the soft voices accompanying a mothers cries as a casket was lowered into the ground. The youngest of the fallen had been a genin kunoichi. Her mother looked too young, and was having trouble standing, leaning heavily against the girls father. The man stood tall holding his shoulders for his daughter as high as he could keep them, but Neji's strong eyes could see the tears even from the distance, and the tremors that raked his chest with every inhale.

Neji watched near the gate as the family suffered their loss. This was how it was. How it had been since the dawn of man. Sons, and daughters were lost to war everyday, and with these truths he was familiar, but this time Neji found it hard to keep on moving down the road. He had never put much thought into what he had to lose when he was young and indestructible. His father had left him in his youth, and his mother had died long before her husband had. Hinata was the only person he had to cherish and for many years that sentiment had been trained into him, and nothing more.

Neji forced himself to move on in the direction of the hospital, but the image of that father's face was haunting him, too. As improbable as it were, and after so long, now, somehow, he had _everything_ to lose.

…

"Don't touch that-!"

Mae forced her hands back down to the bed, but the IV in her arm was making her feel...well, the only word that came to mind was _'yucky'._ She would steal glances at the tubes and liquids and cringe with disgust, then struggle not to rip them all out as her tired looking nurse circled her bed, tinkering with the monitors and machines. The Nurse was as grotesquely lacking in her bedside manner as she was in physical appearance, and had none of the warmth of her superior, Sakura Uchiha.

"Keep your hands off the equipment!"

"They're broken legs! I can drink fluids, you know!"

The old nurse ignored Mae's venomous protest while grumbling her way out the door about her 20 plus years of experience being questioned by a... The last bit of her rant had disappeared with her down the corridor, and Mae very much doubted that a single word of it was kind.

Mae hated hospitals. Though she'd never been certain why, the disdain bordered on full fledged straight-jacket worthy phobia. She'd had Haro in her first and only apartment all by herself, determined to rely on instinct, or alternatively die a natural death. _Thank the Gods for her wide hips_. Both she and her son had been blessed with infallible immune systems, and so had never really fallen ill, so the only other time she'd found herself within the literal death trap of a medical facility was when Haro had been tortured by the clan. Mae had held her breath nearly throughout her sons entire internment so as not to breath the tarnished air. And now that she herself was laying stranded on a hospital bed likely christened by an unpleasant and frightfully high number of patients, Mae was squirming like an octopus in a hot pot.

The IV was so gross, tenting her skin like a worm had snaked into an artery, and contrary to her nurses claims, it wasn't painless. She could feel cramps in that particular shoulder that burned like she were hanging from her fingertips on a cliffs edge. There were long veins of air in the hose of saline and Mae had heard once that you die with too much air in your veins. Something about embolisms or the bends, or whatever the hell, all she knew for certain was that it Needed to Go.

Mae's shaking fingers toyed with the surgical tape that tethered her to the machines, but no sooner had she jostled a corner of the sticky gauze the sound of a soft and annoying alarm went off at the desk down the hall. Mae picked up the pace, but like a very menacing and determined band-aid, she was afraid to rip it off. The nurse shuffled into the room before Mae had plucked up the courage, and was wearing an ugly frown that crumpled her face when she emerged in the door. She didn't even look up at Mae while she crossed the room to fetch something from a drawer that clanked like small glasswares.

Mae sat awkwardly silent while her eyes craned over the womans shoulder, but her leg casts made it hard to lean very far for a better view. The woman started grumbling to herself while she turned to reveal without any introduction a syringe full of clear liquid in her now gloved hands.

"W-hat is that?!" Mae barked, but the force of her question was robbed by a break in her voice.

The nurse was complaining so much so fast, and at such a low murmur that it more resembled humming, which made it all the more terrifying as she plunged the needle into a contraption that hung from the saline bag.

"Nighty-night!" the nurse then sang in a rather sardonic fashion while resuming her cursing out in the hall.

Whatever it was it kicked in fast, and Mae hadn't the time to press the call button for help before her limps were weighted to the bed. Or did they disappear..? No matter...

She took her last few moments of consciousness to scan the room with her heavy eyes to document the crime scene, and to possibly gather any information on the nurse so that a proper complaint could be filed when the drugs wore off. That was of course all depending on whether or not it were a sedative or poison coursing through her veins to shut her up for good. In her stupor she realized that if she died her memories probably wouldn't be enough to bring the nurse to justice. Maybe she'd be resurrected, too-?

Haro appeared in the doorway just then and paused in its frame, his weary gaze studying his mothers lofty expression.

She looked a little more present for an instant as Mae smiled at her son. She forgot about the IV, and her murderous practitioner, and was caught by the look on Haro's face.

"Hey." He said after a moments pause.

"Hey, honey..." Mae breathed. The weight on her chest was like a heavy quilt and she could feel it when she spoke. A long and whirring silence fell between them and it seemed to be counting every mile that had brought them to where they were, the life that they once shared now very far away. Mae tried not to frown, but she could just make out through her sedation that her sons tranquility was breaking, and coming apart in his mismatched eyes.

"We almost died..." He laughed, but his gaze glossed over.

Mae opened her arms with a sad and sleepy smile. He curled up around her cast and laid his head down on her stomach starring up at the ceiling while she toyed with the locks of his hair, twirling it around her clumsy fingers as she nearly fell asleep. It was what she had always done when he was small, and it was then that Mae half-realized how long it had truly been. There's a last time for all of lifes sweet childhood gestures. Boys become men and convince themselves that they're too grown for their mothers love. Mae had missed him. He was almost a man, almost gone, but not just yet.

"I'm sorry I made us stay." He admitted softly. "I'm sorry for everything.."

"Don't say that." She whispered with a lofty smile. Her words came as if directed at a version of her son that she could see behind her closed eyes. "We spent so much time away.. I never wanted you to be lonely, sweetheart..."

Haro grinned and shook his head, still starring up at the ceiling. "I wasn't lonely, Ama."

Haro wasn't sure if she had heard him. Her eyes were fluttering behind closed lids, and her breathing was so steady that surely she'd fallen asleep.

"You don't want to quit, do you..?" She asked suddenly from a dream. When he didn't speak she seemed to ramble on absentmindedly while fighting a warm sleep.

"Everyone's afraid to die, Haro.." She whispered gently "The only thing worse is being afraid to live.."

Whatever she'd been perscribed for pain seemed to have taken away the weight of her typical anxiety, for she'd said something quite out of character. It made him smile and sigh, and he knew he wouldn't give up just yet. Haro then shrugged as the image of his father's face came to mind.

"So...He's kind of a serious guy, huh..?"

Mae let one mirthful little snort escape from her nose before vanishing into a deep and medicated sleep.


	33. Chapter 33

_This Story in its Entirety has been officially dedicated to Kiyuuni, not only for her constant support, advice, and cherished enthusiasm, but also for being the first fan to ever send me noods. XD_

 _Thank You Kiyuuni!I'm so thankful to have met you!_

 _(In case there's any confusion, Noods of the Ramen variety, and yes they are muthatruckin' delicious)_

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

 _"Go Home, sweetheart. I'm not going anywhere. I wouldn't even if I could."_

Mae had joked lightly from her hospital bed while gesturing to the heavy casts around her shins, and after a bit more protest, and a kiss on the cheek, Haro reluctantly took his mother's advice and headed out the hospital gate for home.

The sun was going down, and long shadows stretched over the grass, and the approaching gray nearly hid Sumoki's ashen silhouette in perfect camouflage, but he spied her before she spoke.

"Is she out tomorrow, then?" Sumoki asked as she toyed with the sleeves of her sweater. She followed timidly at Haro's back with here eyes to the path.

"Tomorrow morning..." Haro began with a voice gruff and low. "So I wont be around to help her..."

"Because of practice..." Sumoki confirmed with a defeated sigh as the 'X stitched over the mouth of her mask shifted with her words.

"Ama said Neji will be there..." He added somberly.

He wasn't decided on whether or not he trusted the man. They had yet to speak to one another for any reasonable amount of time, but right away Haro felt an air around Neji Hyuga that was teeming with pressure. It was an ominous sort of aura that made the hairs on his neck stand on end. The fact that he were similarly undead could have lead to that effect, or maybe it was simply due to the fact that he were his estranged, war-hero, father, and that prospect was intimidating all on its own.

All in all, Haro wasn't really in the mood for company, but Sumoki hadn't said much, anyway. In fact she had scarcely said a word the entire walk to his house, and for some odd reason she had her mask up over her face. She followed him up the path, and stood in the quiet as he turned the lock, and he nearly shut the door until he realized that she were still standing in the grass, eyes at her feet.

"C-can I come in?" She blundered softly, and the sound of her uncertainty made him feel strange. Why hadn't she just barged in like usual? She wasn't herself lately, but, now even her default setting was all wrong. Where was the attitude? Where was the Sumoki he knew?

Haro nodded, and held the door with a deep crease in his brow. Something wasn't quite right, and he wished he weren't as tired as he was, so that he might handle it properly.

The house was dark, and still, and much too quiet. He was hungry, and exhausted, and he knew that he should eat something, but Haro sat himself down on the couch without a word, and solidified into the cushions as he starred out the patio door across the living-room. He could see his reflection in the glass. He looked paler, and colder than he knew himself to be. But, at least he was alive, which was more than could be said for the many that had died in the attack. Such a horrible way to die. Lungs leaking Black.

Sumoki sat down next to him and did much the same thing, and a silence fell between them that was immense, and loud.

"Can I cook you something?" She asked him with a small voice.

The quiet resumed a moment until Haro let out a bemused and tired laugh.

"You cook?" He asked.

"I can try." She peeped.

The boy closed his mis-matched eyes for a long moment before he glanced over to find her looking stiff. A bit of pink was showing just above the lip of her mask, and Haro knew that trying to be nice was making her uncomfortable. He smiled at her, but she never looked up from her hands. Her thin, pale fingers were fussing with the loose string that had unraveled from her sleeve.

"Don't worry about it." Haro sighed warmly "There's no food here anyway." And, with that he reached over and took her hand in his. It was small, and cold, and he was sure he heard her breath catch in her throat, but she didn't let go.

Sumoki's heart took off in her chest, its rhythm making blotches of white flash in her view. She was afraid to look over at him and catch his smile. If she did she'd remember how much she loved it, and how heartless she was for willing herself to sacrifice it. She swallowed back her tears, and kept her eyes to the hardwood.

Haro had told her once that he felt selfish for asking his mother to stay in Konoha. That he felt responsible for her unhappiness, and spoke about it so genuinely, when in comparison, Sumoki were the truly selfish one. She'd persisted, and badgered, and even wished for his own demise so that he'd have to stay in the village and learn to become a Shinobi. She'd asked him to join, begged him, even, and now he was stuck here in the thick of it all looking half empty, coming undone around the chaos, all for her own benefit. The Exams. _Her_ own future, _Not_ his. How _dare_ she. If she'd never asked him to join the academy; If she'd never convinced him to be apart of their team, he'd be somewhere singing in the sun, no doubt, smiling that smile that she knew, in time, her world would destroy..

"...Haro... I wish you could run..."

Sumoki's voice was soft and trembling, and Haro was more than surprised to find her hand shaking in his. He glanced up as a tear seeped into the fabric of her mask.

"I'm so sorry I asked you to stay, Haro... This is all my fault. You're mother almost died. _You_ almost died, and for _what_..!?" As she carried on her voice grew louder, that crease in her brow casting an even darker shadow over her wilting, black eyes. "All for some Exam that might Kill you, too! You're not a Shinobi, Haro! You'll _die_ here, and it's going to be all my fault!"

Haro was still, and as calm as he always was, his hand holding her's tight.

"Sumoki, please don't cry-."

"Shut up Haro! Just _Stop_ being so Nice! You know this is my fault, so just get mad at me! _Be Angry!_ I Did This! When I found out you were Neji's son I used that to my advantage. I made you feel like being you wasn't good enough. Like you were wasting your potential, but everything about you is good enough, Haro! You were more than good enough Just the Way you Were. I _Love_ who you are _Without_ the training, and the fighting, _Without_ that stupid Byakugan!-"

"Wait..." Haro began softly, but the silver-haired girl beside him was spilling out every guilty regret she'd been holding inside.

"And now you can't even run! You know that, _Don't You!?_ If you do she'll kill you! You're a terrible ninja, Haro. You're just a punching bag! You don't know **_Anything!_** "

"Wait-!"

"Did you see the way they _died_ , Haro?! You're so **_Stupid!_ ** How can you be so calm?! That could have been _**You!** _ You're not strong enough. You're-"

"You love me..?"

Sumoki froze solid as her dark eyes went wide. That heavy silence was back, and it was full of things, as each of their hearts thundered out of rhythm. Their wide eyes met, and neither looked away as her words settled in the air.

After a moment her anger showed stronger in her eyes and she opened her mouth to retaliate, until Haro's hand left her stunned into silence once more. It was warm on her cheek when he slid down her mask. He brushed his thumb over the small beauty mark beneath her left eye, and he smiled at the blush that stained the bridge of her nose.

Sumoki was sure that she was going to faint, or maybe run by the way that her blood was thrashing in her veins like a wild river.

"I couldn't save you..." She whispered. "One minute you were there, and then you were gone..." Sumoki was choking on her own words, and they came out without her permission. "You're just our third. Our place holder for the Exams, and I promised myself that if you did this for me, I wouldn't let _Anything_ happen to you... And, then you were gone... Just like that you were gone..."

Sumoki couldn't understand why he were starring at her like that. Wasn't she a sorry sight? One hard to look at? Her outburst was mortifying, and her weakness a painful display, but he starred at her with those calm, warm eyes, with the faintest of smiles on his lips.

"You said you love me..." He spoke once more, and the sound of his voice prickled her skin as a sweltering heat bloomed within her chest.

It was too late to lie, and far too late to hide. She hadn't been careful enough with him. All the things that she adored, all the little things that made him so wonderful were all things that she had failed to ignore. She had just enough time to catch her breath before he kissed her, and the world around them flat-lined before moving over like a heavy cloud.

She didn't deserve this, she knew that much. How could someone so horrid deserve someone so full of light.

His breath was soft and sweet, his hands searching her neck, holding her close to him to keep her lips to his, and Sumoki felt her heart turn to liquid in her chest.

She didn't deserve this. And, perhaps she'd been seeing the world all wrong before this moment. It was _she_ that would need to be stronger. _She_ would need to be better, to keep him close, and safe in this world that she had drug him into unprepared; To keep him alive, and smiling, and if, somehow, someway, she were lucky enough, he'd let her keep that smile, too.

..

Haro awoke to a sharp sound. _A knock at the door this late?_ He squinted through the darkness at the clock on the wall and found that it was nearing midnight.

In a daze muddled by adrenaline he tried to get up, then froze when he realized where he was.

They'd fallen asleep on the couch, Sumoki's head on his chest, her breathing soft and even until a second knock made her stir. She opened her eyes with a furl in her brow, before she sat up in a hurry.

The revelation as they woke was slow at first, but the memory of their kiss cleared the fog in their heads in an instant. Each was a bit pink in the cheeks as they looked to one another.

"Who is that?" Sumoki whispered.

"I don't know.." Haro said as he stood and walked into the entry. Sumoki did the same and they starred down the door while Haro activated his Byakugan.

"It's Neji..." His already racing heart skipped a heavy beat as the two of them shared a glance. He tried his best to ignore his own anxiety as he clutched the handle in his grip, and opened the door.

Neji towered in the frame, midnight casting him in a dark shadow. He was wearing a look of muted surprise in his harsh gaze as he spied the girl over Haro's shoulder.

"Am I interrupting..?" The man asked, his voice deliberate and even.

Haro tried to speak, but his words wouldn't come, then, to his surprise Sumoki spoke up.

"I was just leaving." She blurted, and as she retreated to the door Neji stepped aside, and Sumoki slipped past him wearing a shade of red Haro thought humanly impossible. She disappeared up into the black tangled canopy above the village, leaving Haro to tend to his rather high-tension affairs, alone.

An uncomfortable silence fell in the doorway as Neji starred down his guilty looking son. The man raised a brow, and the sight of it had Haro recovering his manners. He moved to let him in and closed the door behind them as Neji passed into the Kitchen. That silence grew deafening as the two of them found themselves at either end of the island counter, Haro struggling for words beneath the weight of that stare.

"Guests in your mothers home while she's away...and at such an hour? And to think Mae boasted such praise at you being a well mannered young man..." That calculative glare softened as Neji smirked. "Though it's certainly not my place to judge."

"She's just a friend..." Haro murmured, while praying that Neji wouldn't tell his Ama about having a girl sleep over. She'd break his neck between her leg casts, no doubt.

"Of course." Neji added before his smirk faded back into the hard line of his frown. "I apologize for the poor timing. My hands have been full with so many things, though, that's not to say you weren't a priority. This meeting is long overdue, after all..."

Haro nodded slowly, his company far too surreal for him to find the words to say.

"Mae told me you swayed her into allowing you to participate in the Chunin Exams." Neji seemed to waste no time before voicing his most pressing concerns. "However, based on the state I found you in when we first met..." He trailed off as his eyes nearly softened. "How confident are you feeling in regards to the Exam?"

He tried to hold his fathers intimidating gaze, but it was as if he could see right through him, and Haro's own gaze fell to the floor.

"Not very..."

"At least you're honest." Neji spoke without any palpable emotion. Haro noticed that seemed to be the way that he was. Colorless, and void.

"She'll return to the Village, Haro. She knows you are a much easier target than I. With all that in mind we haven't much time, but what time I do have will be yours if you want it. If you want to fight back. If that aspiration remains, I would be honored to help you..."


	34. Chapter 34

Mae was a Powder keg.

She'd been poked. She'd been prodded. Drugged and catheterized (unfortunately not in that order.) She'd been man-handled by the worlds most cynical old hag of a nurse, and temporarily shared her room with an individual who sounded, from the other side of the privacy divider, like patient zero. She'd been immersed deep into the latex and isopropyl bowels of her life's greatest horrors for three whole days, and Mae was in no mood.

No mood for the Med-Nin Sakura, and her uninvited gaggle of interns whom she'd given preparatory introductions on how to deal with 'disgruntled patients' out in the hall before stepping into her room with fake, cheery smiles. Mae had heard every word. Sakura's interns were standing in the doorway now, pens at the ready, and beside their pink haired sensei there stood a woman so beguiling that if she hadn't noticed the byakugan Mae would have been certain she weren't human.

"Hello, Mae. How are you feeling this morning?" Sakura chimed brightly.

Mae was about to deliver a vivid description of her numb backside, but she was stopped by a soft ruckus as the interns shifted in the doorway.

Neji Hyuga stepped into the room, and there was an audible draw of breath and a few apologies as the students gave him a wide berth. Mae's heart monitor picked up fast, and since it were the only sound in the room not a one of the nine people present failed to notice it.

Mae yanked the device from her finger and tried to stifle her blush.

"Mae, lets not do this again. You know you need to leave that on." Sakura sighed as she walked up and fished the monitor clamp out from under Mae's bedsheets where she'd quickly tried to hide it. A small tussle ensued that left Mae with a sour pout, and that annoying beep was back.

"Neji-san, my name is Ayame Hyuga." The pretty woman began without looking up from her clipboard. "and now that you are here we can begin. First, I'd like to go over some of the more obvious questions."

"Wouldn't those questions be for me?" Mae asked, but the pretty Hyuga simply glared down at Mae for a long and uncomfortable moment. Mae resisted the urge to retreat into her unkempt mane for shelter until Ayame's pearly gaze finally fell back to her clipboard. She seemed to be a med-nin who wasted no time with introductions.

"Has she always been this way?" Ayame began tonelessly while scratching at her papers with a fervent pen.

Neji found his place at the foot of Mae's bed and glanced down at her as if she were a stiff cadaver in a morgue.

"It's difficult to say. She was from a rural civilian village and barely a woman when we first met. I know next to nothing about her history, and our encounter was brief. However, I had noticed right away that her chakra levels were alarmingly low."

"And now, in terms of quantity? Does she seem to have less than you previously recall?"

"No, it's just as insubstantial."

"Excuse me." Mae hissed. " _Insubstantial_? I've been getting along just fine, thank you very much."

There was no response to Mae's interjection, but the room did fill with the sound of scratching pens which only made the curly haired cripple that much more annoyed.

"The chakra distribution its-self seems to be normal. However trace the amount, it's not clotted or segregated. It appears as though she sustains the same level throughout her pathways, however lacking it may be..."

"I think you've covered that part. Lets move on.." Mae barked as her temper flared. Another flurry of scribbling came from the interns.

Ayame completely ignored her and simply folded her navy blue bangs behind her ear as her Byakugan darted between the clipboard and the patient.

"And...the _disk_ Neji mentioned...?" Sakura interjected carefully. "Can you see it Ayame-san?"

"No. And I can't rightly assess something that can't be seen..." She said curtly before noticing the severe glare on Neji's face and adding, "Though, that's not to say that it doesn't exist... Aside from that I'll state the obvious here. It is odd isn't it...that it's... _red_?"

The room was silent once more, and Mae's eyes fluttered nervously from face to face.

"A red chakra signature is most commonly present in those with a disposition to have alarmingly great measures of energy," Ayame went on, "and yet she appears to retain quite the opposite. You see it in animals more often than our species."

"Could it be hereditary?" Neji suggested.

"Not likely. Though, I'm sure you know all bloodlines have their own genetic intricacies, her deficiency is far too drastic. To be frank, it's a medical marvel that she's even able to breath on her own, much less function like a normal human bei-"

"HEY!"

The room flexed, and Sakura's interns started taking their notes once more, and it was then that Mae remembered her students were documenting her discord, and not her condition, a condition that somehow seemed to be a bizarre and yet boring medical anomaly to the young Ayame-san.

"I'm sitting right here." Mae reminded while gesturing to her intrusive Doujutsu. "If you can't see anything anyway, why don't you save yourself some effort and shut those things off."

"My apologies, Mae." Ayame chimed while visibly holding her composure."It's just that I've never heard of such a thing. It's important that we cover all the bases before indulging the possibility of your chakra somehow being... siphoned."

"Well, it hasn't caused me any trouble yet, so lets not fix what isn't broken. I was born this way." Mae proclaimed with confidence.

"And how could you possibly know that.?" Neji challenged.

"And How could You Possibly Know more than I do About my Own-"

"I do wonder.." Ayame then spoke up and cut Mae off from her retort. "Are you sick often, Mae?"

"We'll yeah, but breakfast usually helps."

Neji sighed and shook his head, his expression full of equal parts disappointment and disbelief. "I doubt she was referring to the consequences of your drinking problem."

"Drinking Problem!" Mae shrieked as her eyes caught fire. The interns were frantic, scribbling like twelve year old girls who'd just gotten their first diary.

"Cold? Flu? Anything?" Ayame asked, sounding eager to be rid of the conversation.

Mae shook her head and eyed the strange looks on their faces. _Was it so outrageous to be blessed with a healthy immune system?_

"I'm afraid at this point I have no insights for you." Ayame admitted while turning her attention to Neji. "However, I am a little intrigued. I've never seen someone so feeble appear to function so normally. And if what you say is true, and her chakra is indeed... " _seeping_ " somehow, in some way... That would be an occurrence entirely new to me. Even more astounding, since there is such a limited amount at her body's disposal, at least visually, and after suffering the damage that she did it's clear that the fall was more than enough to-"

"We Get it! ...Look, you didn't medicate me enough to talk about that." Mae grumbled with a shudder. "I've got a thing about heights..."

The Med-nin nodded before gathering up her files from a nearby table and turning to Neji and Sakura. "I'll do my part and see what information I can find." and with that she was out the door.

Sakura blew an awkward sigh and smiled before coming to Mae's bedside with a clipboard of her own.

"We'll you're free to go once you've signed your outpatient papers! Just be sure to stay in bed until your legs set properly. I'll come by to check up on you in a few days." Sakura handed over the heavy stack of papers, and Mae set to work signing her name over and over, dreaming of the fresh untainted air outside that she would soon rejoin. There were a million consent forms, which seemed long over-due and a bit moot now, but by the time she finished and looked up from her lap she was surprised to find the room completely empty.

"Uhm... Hello?"

The hospitals quiet bustle was soft in the hall. No one seemed to hear her. She glanced around and caught a glimpse of the nurse call button and glared it down. No way were she about to ask for help from that wrinkly old shrew.

She sat with her thoughts a moment, recognizing the familiar sensation of loneliness. There was much to be done. A cold blooded Demon had it out for the village, but even so, Mae had thought that Neji would have at least stayed to help her get home...

Mae bit into her cheek and sat up straighter in her bed. There was a chair near the far wall just beside the door. Her leg casts felt irritatingly sturdy. Surely they were solid enough for her to waddle her way over. From there she could scoot out into the hall and snag herself a wheelchair. No help necessary. If everyone else was too busy, well, so be it. She'd find her own way home. It wasn't as if she'd just broken both her legs or anything.

Mae took a deep breath and set her face, and with one grunt threw her legs over the side of the bed. Regret was felt _immediately_. The leg casts were heavier than she'd presumed, and the pain was terrible, but lifting them back up felt impossible. There was only one direction left to go, and that was down.

With a gasp and a snarl she collapsed to the floor, her legs throbbing, but a mere splinter in comparison to the pain that seared her lower back.

"Damn it!" She cursed as she craned up an arm to search blindly for the call button when Neji suddenly appeared in the doorway with a wheelchair, and a dangerous pair of flashing, angry eyes.

"What in the _**Hell**_ are you Doing?!" He growled scorchingly as he swept to her side.

"I thought you left!" Mae barked, her face a bright and blazing shade of red.

"So you thought you'd just mosey home? Take the scenic route perhaps?" Neji scolded. He sounded as cross as ever, and equally condescending, but his calm contradicted his venomous tone as he set her very gently in her wheelchair. His long hair had tumbled forward as he leaned down to secure her and it fell across her cheek, and Mae was distracted by his smell. He smelled so clean...and not overly familiar...but, not unfamiliar, either...

 _What do I smell like...?_ She fretted to herself, and shrunk back into her curls after taking in a breath through her nose to confirm.

 _Definitely not clean..._

..

Gravel crunching was the only sound as Neji pushed Mae down the road toward her home. She was at a loss for words, but he seemed indifferent to the silence. In fact she wagered he probably preferred it to fighting for small talk.

Mae chanced a glance over her shoulder, using her curls as cover to peek up at him. He was so tall, his long, straight hair only adding to his stature. She couldn't keep from wondering about the specifics of his new existence. This wasn't _his body_... Rather, something _borrowed_...

A flash, a blur, and a soft rustle of dry leaves captured Mae's focus. Glancing at the shops and houses tucked in and out of the trees she spotted an ANBU walking the rooftops, its Monkey mask watching them move down the road. Two others were moving silently along the rooftops on either side of them, parallel to Neji, no faster, no slower than their targets pace, making no effort to hide. They wanted to be seen. They wanted Neji to know that they were watching.

Mae was suddenly painfully aware of their presence and couldn't keep her heart from picking up in her chest. They moved like ghost, or demons, or something worse.

She glanced back up to Neji. Of course, he was stoic and unaffected, and the rather odd but reoccurring thought of where he'd been staying the last four days once again plagued her conscience. Probably the compound. Or perhaps not. His brow was still bare...

Mae looked him up and down, those deep set eyes so still and ominous over-head looking harsh and adamentine. The air around the man beside her was one of deathless confidence. Surely none would dare to even attempt to bring up the cursed seal. Not even Haiashi.

His gaze never changed though she was sure that he saw the ANBU. He never slowed their pace, and his eyes never left the end of the road, but when he suddenly spoke an odd shift in his voice left Mae's heart in tremors.

"Mae. The nature of this...predicament... I'm not sure how much time I have. Moreover, I'm not yet certain if the time I do have is even my own... Do you understand?"

His voice was level but heavy with something, and his gaze slid down to look at her, but once their eyes met his quickly snapped back to the road.

Mae turned away from him, her own gaze falling to her lap. She did understand. He was asking her not to get used to the idea of his return. Who could tell if he were here to stay, or if they'd be laying him back down in his grave for the second time.

..

"Stop wiggling!"

"You're going to drop me!"

"If you keep struggling, I will!"

Mae's wheelchair wouldn't fit through the front door, and that development, coupled with her unavailing pride and distrust made for a bit of a conundrum as Neji made to carry her inside. Once he finally managed to set her down on the couch he went to fetch the wheelchair. He was only just returning to the living room with it folded in his grip when Mae began to wriggle and squirm yet again.

"Gimme that!" she demanded, and snapped her fingers, gesturing to her now collapsed mode of transportation. He glared her down before reluctantly opening it and setting it beside her.

Nature was blaring like a foghorn in Mae's bladder, and she practically threw herself into her wheelchair as soon as it locked into place, and Neji looked on as she struggled to maneuver it around the coffee table before speeding down the hall, tires spinning on the hardwood. She never slowed, and turned to enter the bathroom until a thud stopped her wheels dead.

Mae shrunk into a glob of despair as his footsteps sounded slowly in the hall. _The stupid chair didn't fit through any of her doorways!_ Mae could feel his smirk at her back without needing to turn around to see it.

"Trouble?" He asked over her shoulder.

"Nope. None what so ever." Mae noted confidently as she drew back her wheels to gather a bit more momentum. Her attempt proved futile, and also a bit painful as the tires struck the door frame. A little hum of interest sounded behind her as Neji shared his musings.

"How is it that after all this time you are still just as prideful as I remember."

Mae ignored him and appeared to be measuring the distance between her and the toilet.

"Honestly, Mae-"

"Just fold me in!" Mae demanded while she grabbed the arms of her wheelchair and tugged them to her waist in an attempt to lose a few inches. It were nearly enough, but not quite.

"Even if you could fit it through the door, how would you get out?" Neji challenged as a bit of annoyance tinged his tone. "You'd still need assistance, and I'm beginning to realize that the words, 'please help me' are foreign to your vocabulary."

Mae sucked in her gut and pulled her wheels in hard, and with a grunt, a gasp, and an ugly scratch of paint she scraped her way through the door.

"Hah!" She cried triumphantly while wheeling around and slamming the door in his face.

He should have expected as much, and certainly should have known better. She'd slammed the bathroom door in his face, and then locked it with a sharp click, and Neji couldn't keep his eyes from rolling in their sockets.

He sighed a heavy sigh. "I really wouldn't advise that."

"Oh? And why's that?" Mae cried from the other side of the door. She sounded like she were struggling to climb a rock wall much less a toilet seat. "Now go away! Some privacy in my own home is NOT too much to ask for, Especially not after what I just went through!"

"You shouldn't have locked the door. I'll have to ruin it when you inevitably fall and hurt yourself for the third time this week."

"I didn't fall! I was _Dropped_!" Mae growled.

Neji shook his head. "And finding you on the floor at the hospital earlier?"

"You Left!" Mae shrieked once more. " Now, go away! I know how to use the restroom!"

"You have no legs.." Neji sighed, but it seemed she were too busy to respond for only a few curses and the sound of her casts dragging on the floor could be heard.

"Fine." Neji spat. "Break your neck on the toilet. But don't say that I didn't warn you."

He strode back to the living room with a headache, imagining how much easier sharing space with her would be if not for her outrageously stubborn attitude. What on earth had made her this way? When they'd first met she had been no better. Time had done nothing for her in that regard. If anything, she was worse.

Suddenly the sound of the tub turning on caught his attention, and the teeth in his jaw began to grind. He stomped his way to the bathroom door.

"You have to be kidding me!? Your casts will disintegrate if you get them wet, and I refuse to wheel you all the way back to the hospital for new ones."

"I'm just wetting a washcloth! Actually, No! Why don't you mind your own business!"

"You are my business!" Neji roared.

"You should be with the council right now! Or maybe you could go hunt down some of my relatives to see how _Insubstantial_ they are." Mae sang bitterly.

Neji saw red. Were she throwing some kind of tantrum? If so, what for?

"Fine, you stubborn little imbecile." He hissed through grit fangs. Neji meant to walk away. In fact he meant to storm right out of the house with the last shred of his patience, but a gasp and gurgling bubbles changed his mind.

"Damn It, Mae!"

The door splintered down the middle beneath his palm and he shoved the bits from his path just in time to find Mae's leg casts in the air, her head beneath the soapy waters of a tub that wasn't draining.

He fished her out while she spluttered.

"You're paying for that door - _Cough_ \- I hope you k-know!"

...

He tried to be indifferent. He tried to keep his mind on the task. He'd even regretted convincing her to let him help, since his own confidence evaporated into thin air the second she slipped the wet hospital gown up over her head.

He'd brought her down dry clothes. A long sleeve dress, and a blanket, and wheeled her into the living room to change. She'd asked him to turn around and he had, but the reflection of her shone clearly in the patio door, and his better conscience couldn't argue fast enough. By the time he managed to close his eyes she was already telling him to turn around.

She wheeled herself to the couch and flopped out of her chair with a sigh, sprawling out as best she could.

"Are you hungry?" Neji asked as he made his way to the kitchen.

Mae snorted and waved her hand dismissively through the air. "There's no food here. Don't be silly."

"I had noticed that." Neji noted dryly before opening a cupboard. "So I picked up a few things. You're feeding your son, aren't you? The boy's terribly skinny."

Mae shot up to glare over the back of the couch. "Gee, I wonder why? He's white as a ghost, too."

Neji smirked.

"Where'd that pan come from? It's too shiny to be mine..." Mae asked as she ogled the new frying pan in his hand.

"Call it a belated housewarming gift, depending on whether you actually know how to use it." he chided.

Mae lay back down on the couch out of sight just in time to hide her smile.

Kakashi had made her tea once, but she'd never had someone cook for her before. Not like this..

Mae stopped herself short, worried that all the drugs had done something permanent to her brain. Why was she so giddy all of a sudden? It didn't make much sense. If anything she were being selfish. Though she'd missed him, of course, Neji was much too valuable to be playing house. The Woman in White was waiting for opportunities. Probably getting stronger.

Mae peered up over the back of the couch again. "You know, I meant what I said before...I can take care of myself. You have so much to do, and I know the council needs you. I'm sure it wouldn't be too much trouble for Kakashi to watch out for me."

Neji was dicing an onion with a long knife from her recently returned block set when she caught the corner of his mouth turning to smirk.

"I'm fairly certain that he already is."

It was then that the leaves that brushed the rooftop above seemed louder to her, if they were truly leaves at all. The wind that flowed around the house sounded much too purposeful. She could feel their eyes again, but only for a moment.

Mae turned away from Neji and shrunk back into the couch and tugged the hem of her dress past her knees. She'd forgotten about the ANBU. She'd forgotten about the-

"You Just Let Me Change In The Livingroom!" She bellowed, whipping her glare around to pierce him.

"And _That_ was the portion of this morning that you found most embarrassing?"

Mae sunk once again back into the couch cushions feeling a bit ill. As if Kakashi needed any more ammunition to pester her with, and now he might have seen her naked!?

"Lets hope whatever you're making tastes as good as it smells." She groaned.

Mae soon found that it did. In fact it tasted even better. Mae ate four helpings over the course of the day and snuggled into her blankets content to be warm and full, and not connected to machines, and tubes. Haro would be home soon, and the butterflies were there, but Neji's cooking left her feeling a bit sleepy. Maybe she'd just rest her eyes a minute.

There was that sound again. It was more than just a sound.

Dishes softly clanking in the sink. Water boiling on the stove. The smell of tea, and warm air. It sounded strange, like deja vu, like a dream she'd had and nearly forgotten. It sounded like something that she had never known she wanted. A place to settle. A place that was safe. A place that she'd never had before-

Mae opened her eyes as her hand brushed along the crack of the couch cushions. Something snagged her fingers and she sat up. Mae pulled something black into view. A cottony fabric that upon further inspection, became a mask. And not just any mask.

…

Haro was eager to be home, and flew through the front door. He stumbled in his hurry to kick off his shoes and sped to the living room to find his Ama.

"There you are! Get in here _Right Now!_ " Mae barked, red faced, and somehow no less intimidating from her wheelchair.

Haro looked confused as he held up his hands, stepping away from his mothers advance as she wheeled across the kitchen toward him. She backed him up to the sink and he shrunk over the counter in an attempt to avoid her.

"You've got some nerve, boy! Who do you think you are!" Mae bellowed while she swatted at her son as high as she could reach. When she couldn't reach the back of his head she picked up the shiny new frying pan from the drying rack.

"You're Fifteen years old! Who do you think you are inviting girls over to stay like you're some eligible bachelor!? Is this _Your_ house?! Who Bought this house?!"

"Hinata!" Haro defended to his own regret. His mother roared and he barely managed to dodge her impressive swing. There was a grunt behind them and Neji stood smirking until Haro cried,

"You Told Her!?"

Neji stiffened while Mae's fiery gaze tore over her shoulder. He sighed, "I didn't tell her." and he gestured to the couch where Sumoki's mask was laying out. "Seems she left something behind."

"You Knew!" Mae bellowed, steam practically billowing from her nostrils. She drew a long breath, grit her fangs, and set the frying pan back into the drying rack with particular care. She slowly wheeled around to face Neji and drew her wheels right up to his feet. Neji met her chilling gaze with indifference, and Haro watched as a horrifying starring contest ensued.

"You knew and you didn't tell me." Mae began, unblinking, unmoving, and terrifyingly composed.

"I didn't find it overly compelling. He's a young man with his own interests."

"He's Still A Child." Mae spat. "My child, My responsibility, and from now on when you know something about him that I don't I expect you to tell me immediately, Understood."

The tension in the room was stifling, and Haro muttered, "You know, It isn't what it looks like..." But Neji's next comment kept either of them from hearing him.

"I'll advise my own self, thank you very much, and I _am_ his father by blood. It would be wrong of me to not grant him my confidence."

"He's fifteen years old! Are you forgetting that!"

"Fifteen years old, and by your blessing, a trained killer. You draw your lines in odd places, you know."

Haro slid along the wall, staying out of sight. Luckily for him neither one dared to break their stare and back down. Haro snatched Siumoki's mask as Neji and Mae bickered back and forth, the chill of their tones heating with rage as they continued. He stood peering at them from the hall. Is this what it was like? Having two parents that live together?

"You're going to smother him!"

"Yes! And He's Mine to Smother!"

"You're insane you know that!"

"And you're practically a Zombie! I think I'll take your opinions with a grain of salt!"

"What!? How Dare You!"

Haro couldn't believe it, but a smile spread across his face. His mother was a fire, wild and uncontrollable. His father was of another element entirely, cold and colorless. Haro had been an accident for sure. That shone clear as day against their contrasting dynamic, and for the first time he caught a glimpse of their life that never was. A conflicting family, but one he would have been thankful to have. A family of opposites, drawn together by fate. Because what truly is fate, but the consequence of a great many accidents.

Haro went up the stairs very content, and very, very happy to be an accident.


End file.
